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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24592252">Dark</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/if_you_onlyknew/pseuds/if_you_onlyknew'>if_you_onlyknew</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkOne/pseuds/Wickedly_Hooked'>Wickedly_Hooked (TheDarkOne)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Once Upon a Time - The Pirate and the Witch [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Once Upon a Time (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Minor Violence, Roleplay Style, Roleplaying Character, shackled Killian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:41:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>22,182</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24592252</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/if_you_onlyknew/pseuds/if_you_onlyknew, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkOne/pseuds/Wickedly_Hooked</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Killian and Zelena are kidnapped by Dr. Facilier.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Wishverse Captain Hook | Detective Rogers/Wicked Witch of the West | Zelena</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Once Upon a Time - The Pirate and the Witch [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1527434</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Dark</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Halloween thread continued</em>
  <br/>
  <em>Early morning hours before dawn.</em>
</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>In the black darkness, Killian reflected over the past several hours of whatever the devil had happened. Confusion was at the forefront of the problem as he’d had no bloody idea how he and Zelena--not to mention the others from the Enchanted Forest--had arrived in this strange land with horseless carriages, lighting with no fire, and a strange contagion of memory loss.</p>
<p>Killian hadn’t lost his own wits over his identity in the confusion but Regina had no idea she was the queen, Zelena had forgotten their relationship entirely, and the crocodile… That was laughable. A man of the cloth? What the devil, indeed.</p>
<p>Killian raised his bound hand to carefully scratch an itch on his cheek, mindful of the hook. The ropes were chafing his wrist.</p>
<p>“Well,” he said resignedly. “I suppose we had a good run while it lasted.”</p>
<p>He was speaking to the other inhabitant of the close confines of the trunk they had been shoved into over a quarter hour ago. They had both fought hard, but there was only so much Zelena could do with a magic-blocking cuff on her wrist, and with Killian being bashed over the head.</p>
<p>In the daze of head-trauma, and through one good eye (as the other had long since swollen shut), he saw the horseless carriage they were being shoved toward, saw the small area just before they had been shoved into it, and saw the metal edge just as his forehead had cracked into it leaving a bloodied gash just below his hairline. All in all, he’d hurt worse before, but the throbbing in his head wasn’t helping how he felt about it now.</p>
<p>The muffled voices of the carriage drivers were mostly indistinct, but every now and then, he could make out a word or two, mostly invectives and what sounded mostly like bragging about what they’d been able to accomplish for the witch doctor, Facilier.</p>
<p>Something in his boot was pressing against his ankle bone and the pressure of it with the awkward angle in which he was laying made in noticeable. With an attempt at raising his knee to get to his boot, he may have kneed Zelena a time or two in the process, but his hand brushed against a handle. A knife handle, he suspected, but when had he ever put a knife in his boot? That was unfamiliar along with several other gaps in his memory. “There’s… something in my boot.” His voice broke in the struggle to wrangle the blade out. Not easy with the bulk of the hook brace hindering his progress. Unfortunately, he continued to knee Zelena as he struggled. “It’s a blade. I can saw the ropes.” If he could manage not to slice them both up in the process…</p>
<p>But his fingers felt an all too familiar waviness to the edge of the blade as well as etching along it and his one good eye flew wide at realizing what it was. Not that he could see anything in the darkness. “Bloody hell!” he said under his breath in complete shock. When had he come into possession of <em>the</em> dagger? His mind was racing. He couldn’t very well inform Zelena about this as she was very wicked and loathed Rumplestiltskin. Killian, however, counted the man as a friend now. What to do? He froze with the dagger in hand. He could actually use it to get help by calling for the Dark One, but what would a priest be able to do while the two of them were in a trunk? Not a bloody thing.</p>
<p>There was one thing he could do, however, and that was use the dagger to remove the cuff from Zelena’s wrist since it would require magic. “Give me your wrists. Hold still love.” His seeking fingers attempted not to let go of the handle while feeling where she was. The last thing he wanted was to cut her with the damned thing. This would have been so much easier with two hands. The blade slipped through the cuff and along her skin, popping it off in the process. Unfortunately, the carriage bounced over a pothole in the road and the dagger flew from his hand, knicking Zelena, and tumbled onto his chest with a solid thud. “Damn it!” he growled, scrabbling to grab it in the darkness.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>Zelena was furious. How did she end up cuffed! She had clearly underestimated that wizard. He had used powerful magic to throw her against a wall and once she came back to her senses he had already cuffed her wrist!<br/>The pirate had at least had his sword, but both were no match and eventually ended up tied in a trunk.<br/>It was magically moving as she could feel, and quite uncomfortable. They had squeezed the pirate in beside her, and he looked terrible with his beaten up face.</p>
<p>“That bloody wizard is more powerful than I thought,” Zelena had to admit when Killian said they had had a good run while it lasted.<br/>“I’ll kill him once I’m out of here. What the hell does he want with us!”<br/>While she continued to rage about Facilier, Killian suddenly informed her about something in his boot.<br/>“I don’t care about a stone…” she began again, angered, but fell silent when he mentioned a blade.<br/>“A blade. Well, pirate, eh? Always some hidden knives and weapons. What are you waiting for? Use it! Ouch!” Zelena groaned when he repeatedly kneed her while struggling.</p>
<p>Zelena tried to get her bound hands into a position so Killian could cut the ropes, but instead he was fumbling with the blade under that cuff.<br/>“What the hell are you doing? Only magic can free me of this….” The cuff fell off, and in the next moment Zelena felt a sharp and very intense pain when the dagger cut her wrist open.<br/>She let out a hissing noise and felt the blood stream down her hands, dyeing the rope around her wrist red and also most of Killian’s clothes.<br/>“You cut my vein open,” she said. “I have to heal it before I bleed to death.”<br/>Without another word she vanished in green smoke.<br/>The cuff was still sticking to her wrist (the ropes were holding it), but at least without completely blocking her magic. However, combined with the open and bleeding vein her magic was messed up, and her intention to take Killian along failed. However, she didn’t care much about the pirate, so she felt no remorse that she was leaving him in his misery and with an unknown destination.<br/>If she had time she might get him back later. Or not.<br/>For now Zelena had to find a place to hide since she had appeared somewhere on a street and was almost hit by a car.</p>
<p>“Are you crazy?” The man who had almost killed her yelled at her. “Fucking Halloween idiots! The party is somewhere else, not in my way!”<br/>He stomped on the gas pedal and the car sped off.<br/>Zelena clutched her bleeding wrist, and entered a dark alley. She had to use her teeth to remove the cuff completely, and once it fell off she let the rope disappear and tended to her wound.</p>
<p>She was weak, and had lost a lot of blood, and she needed some time to heal her wrist. Once the blood had stopped splattering from her vein her magic refilled her veins and she felt better.<br/>“Bloody pirate,” she mumbled. Now that she was thinking about it, they hadn’t been interested in her. At least she thought so. They were only interested in kidnapping Killian, so the wizard had said. “Get the pirate…” had been his first words.<br/>So Zelena had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Serves him right,” she mumbled again.<br/>She decided to call it a night. The sun would rise in about an hour, and Zelena was tired. The pirate would surely manage to save himself. Pirates always do.<br/>So the witch poofed back to the bar she had awoken in, and occupied an empty couch. The bar was closed anyway, and she needed a place to stay.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Something wet struck Killian’s hand and neck and in the next moment, Zelena hissed that he had cut her vein. He’d gotten hold of the dagger and then she left him. He raised his elbow to confirm and there was no encouraging bump. She was gone. “Bloody hell,” he mumbled again. But at least she had gotten out and Killian had no doubts about her ability to heal herself despite cutting her.</p>
<p>Still struggling with keeping hold of the blade, for now his hand was sticky with blood, he tried to saw the rope, but the dagger was pointed at his face, and he thought better of it. The carriage was beginning to slow and the last damned thing Killian wanted was for the dagger to be in the possession of those idiots. Or Facilier for that matter. As quickly and carefully as he could, he shifted to attempt to push the dagger back in his boot and cover it with the leg of his leather trouser again.</p>
<p>It seemed he had acted just in time for the trunk lid opened suddenly and one of those strange fireless lamps poured yellow light into the darkened trunk.</p>
<p>Killian smiled despite his busted lip and swollen shut eye. “Oh, so nice of you to recall I’m here,” he said with false joviality. He wouldn’t let them get to him.</p>
<p>“Where’s the witch!?” One of them yelled in outrage.</p>
<p>Killian turned his head slightly as if to wonder the same. “Oh. Her?” Killian raised his bound hand and hook to confirm that the wetness all over him was blood. <em>Damn.</em><br/>“Killed her. She disappeared. One less problem for you to deal with, eh?”</p>
<p>His captors didn’t find that amusing in the least and grabbed Killian by the arms, roughly pulling him out of the trunk. There were tall metal structures and the streets were wet with rain. Killian tried to see anything familiar, but his head was swimming from being struck and the effort to stay upright was challenging.</p>
<p>“The boss is going to make you suffer for that too,” one of the goons informed him as they hit the door, pushing it open and leading Killian within.</p>
<p>In no time at all, because he felt as if he was blinking and missing gaps of time, Killian found himself in a small room with a chain hanging from the ceiling.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>Facilier was there but there wasn’t a damned thing Killian could do about it. The man raised his hand and suddenly the shackles were on Killian’s wrists. His one good eye widened as he saw that it was in fact on both wrists. His brace and hook were gone to be replaced by a perfectly clean left hand as opposed to the bloodied red right hand.</p>
<p>Killian’s stomach felt as if it was going to revolt.</p>
<p>“I’m well aware of how good with restraints you pirates are. You’ll stay here out of my way until I come back. And perhaps by then you’ll tell me what I want to know.” The witch doctor smiled as Killian turned his horror-stricken expression to the man.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>When Zelena woke up she needed a moment to remember where she was. This was not OZ. Right, she had suddenly woken up in a place she didn’t know with no memories of how she had gotten here.<br/>This was nothing else than another bloody curse!<br/>Where was the pirate? Right, he had been kidnapped, and he had cut her vein. Zelena checked her wrist, but everything was fine. Her magic had worked. She could see sunlight flooding the windows in the front. A new day had begun, the second day in her new, cursed life. At least she still had her magic. It was time to find out more.</p>
<p>The witch stood up, and walked toward the door. As soon as she made a first step into the sunlight that enlightened the floor in the bar she felt dizzy, and in the next moment Zelena asked herself how the hell did she come here. She remembered that she was sitting on a couch, chatting with Aidan and then… everything was gone.<br/>She looked around. This was definitely Roni’s bar, but she was alone, and obviously had slept here. There were at least traces of her green paint all over the couch.<br/>Zelena sighed. Regina wouldn’t be happy about that. Where the hell was she actually?<br/>“Regina?” Zelena called for her sister, but got no answer. “Aidan?” He wouldn’t have left her without a word, would he?</p>
<p>Once she was sure that no one was here she returned to her room to get rid of her wicked witch dress and took a long shower to wash off all the green.<br/>She had tried to remember anything of the last night, and there had been some strange images coming to her mind that only meant she had probably gotten drunk, fell asleep and had had a terrible nightmare.<br/>“Oh god, what did Regina mix into those drinks,” she mumbled, and took an aspirin for her headache. She was still in her bathrobe and dried her hair when she found her phone lying on her desk.<br/>Awaiting to have a message from Aidan, saying that he had left for duty or explaining anything that had happened, she looked at the display.<br/>No message. Zelena frowned. It was not typical for Aidan to simply vanish without at least sending her a short message.<br/>A bit worried Zelena pressed the ‘call’ button, and waited for him to take the call, but he didn’t. Instead she heard his mailbox.<br/>“Hey Aidan, it’s… Kelly.” She had almost said ‘Zelena’ again. God. “I… have a bit of trouble remembering last night. Where are you? Call me back if you can please. Hugs.”<br/>She placed her phone back on the desk, and went for breakfast.</p>
<p>Aidan neither called nor sent a message within the next hours. Zelena tried a few times to call him, and she even went to the police station and asked if he was on duty, but strangely no one had seen him yet.</p>
<p>“No worries, Ma’am,” a police officer said. “It happens that his partner calls him at night or early morning and he might be somewhere observing or doing stuff Detectives do when they’re undercover. That might be the reason you can’t reach him. If he’s undercover he isn’t using his private phone but one of ours. Just be patient.”<br/>The officer smiled at her, and Zelena thanked him without feeling any better.<br/>Well, Aidan was a Detective after all, and Zelena trusted he could take care of himself. So she tried not to worry the whole day, but waited.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Aidan shifted, uncomfortable and cold. The bodily pains began to seep into his conscious awareness. His head had been at an odd angle as he lifted his head finding it to be swimming with dizziness. One eye seemed to be stuck shut and the pain in his orbital socket made itself known amongst all the other pains. Setting his head back down as carefully as possible, he took a mental stock of what was ailing him. Forehead, head in general, eye, busted lip, shoulder, back, abdomen, forearms, one--no two fingers at least.</p>
<p>What the hell had happened?</p>
<p>Groaning, Aidan made an effort to move and noticed something else off. A clinking sound. Unable to make sense of the sound, he moved his arm only to find that his wrists were bound together. Frowning, he opened one eye--as that was all he could manage--and his eye verified what he thought. He was cuffed at both wrists. Looking up, he saw the chain that led up to a metal bar.</p>
<p>“What the hell?” he grumbled aloud as he made an effort to sit up.</p>
<p>He realized a moment too late that he had dried blood all over his right hand, but that wasn’t the shocking bit. His left hand had somehow materialized itself. Aidan merely blinked at it as he couldn’t understand it. Flexing the clean fingers of the newly generated hand, he could feel the sensations in it. It was bloody real! Unless he was dreaming… or by the way his body felt, having a nightmare.</p>
<p>His eyes continued to move as he took further stock of himself. Black leather pants, black shirt, more dried blood matted in his chest hair as the black shirt was opened quite a bit at the neck. He recalled Kelly unbuttoning it the night before when they were getting ready for Halloween. She had put her eyeliner on his eyelids and told him he looked like a perfect pirate, or some such thing. His head was still a cloudy mess. The leather coat had been piled up beneath ,and at some point in which he didn’t recall either, and he had laid upon it and passed out. There were marks on the dirt ground which evidenced that he had dragged it to himself. Boot prints in the dirt told the detective that either he had walked here or someone else had dragged him in according to the two long marks in the dirt. Likely dragged, he concluded, since he didn’t remember any of this.</p>
<p>Perhaps Rockford and his goons had finally gotten him. Killian muttered a curse under his breath.</p>
<p>Pulling at the chains only let off an echoing rattling sound. They were clasped tightly against his skin. What the hell had happened to his prosthetic? Where was he? Where was Kelly? All he remembered was leaving her apartment and going to Roni’s. The bathroom, and then it was as if he blinked and here he was. In some place that smelled musty.</p>
<p>“Hello?” he said aloud, wincing at the cracked sound his vocal chords had produced. He really needed water.</p>
<p>There was something else bothering him and Aidan looked at his boot, pulled the leather trouser leg up and saw the dagger handle protruding out. Pulling it free, he saw the intricate etching along the edge and frowned, though the motion made his forehead and eye sting again. “Rumple...stiltskin,” he whispered, and remembered that he had found the blade the night before while in the storage locker. Right after Branson had been mysteriously killed. He’d had the feeling that it was important like that hook with his own name on it so he took it and shoved it in his boot. Seemed like a good place for it. Too bad he wasn’t presently tied with rope. He could have cut himself free. Even when he had the prosthetic, he knew he could’ve escaped. Two hands made it impossible. Or perhaps… just more difficult.</p>
<p>Very carefully, Aidan stuck the dagger back into his boot and concealed it.</p>
<p>“Hello!” He shouted again wondering if anyone was out there.</p>
<p>His phone, badge, the sword he’d worn for the party, the hook! All missing.</p>
<p>After some time, the bodily aches were too much so he lay back down onto the soft leather of the coat. He knew he likely had a concussion and shouldn’t sleep but it was overwhelming him and he had nothing to keep his mind occupied to stay awake anyway. He would sleep for most of the day.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>Hours passed without any message of Aidan. Zelena had at least found Regina after some time, but didn’t tell her anything about her ‘blackout’, and since her sister seemed to be busy with her own issues Zelena retreated to her room soon.<br/>She had not planned to fall asleep at all, but she somehow felt drained and once she closed her eyes for a moment she drifted away.<br/>In her dream she was the wicked witch again, and Killian was there too. The pirate Killian, but she didn’t seem to know him although he knew her. It was a strange dream with awakened Halloween creatures all over the place, and aside from Killian there were also Rumple and Regina. But not as themselves, but as completely other figures.<br/>It didn’t take long and Zelena’s dream turned into a nightmare, and she woke up covered in sweat and heavily breathing.<br/>This had been more than a dream. Zelena knew that only hidden memories could be responsible for this intense way of dreams, and she began to remember more details. She really had had her magic back, and she had been the Wicked Witch. Although from another time period. Real magic had caused this, and she felt terrible when she thought of how she had treated Killian.</p>
<p>Where the hell was he? That part she couldn’t remember. She looked at the time, and gasped. She had slept for more than an hour. It was getting dark, and Zelena checked her phone. Still no message. She called Aidan again, but the only one that answered was his mailbox.<br/>She was more than worried by now. Something must have happened.<br/>Zelena got up, rummaged in her drawer for the key to Aidan’s apartment he had given her a few days ago, and made her way through the secret passage until she stood right in front of his door.</p>
<p>“Aidan?” She knocked, and listened to any possible noises. Maybe he was sick and had fallen asleep?<br/>“Aidan, it’s me - Kelly.” She knocked again, harder this time and suddenly the door opened ajar.<br/>Before Zelena realized that someone might have broken in the door was pulled open, and Zelena was knocked out of the way.<br/>In an attempt to keep her balance she grabbed for the next thing to hold on, and that was the coat of the fleeing man. He struggled, and while Zelena clung to his coat he got rid of it to escape.</p>
<p>Zelena crashed against the wall and dropped to the ground. For a moment it was getting dark, but luckily she didn't pass out. Groaning and holding her head she stayed on the ground and needed a moment before she could get up.<br/>The man had fled by now, and Zelena swore before she stumbled into Aidan’s apartment. It seemed she had distrubed the man. He had just started to search the living area before Zelena must have showed up. There was a mess around the couch but the kitchen and sleeping room were still intact.<br/>Zelena sighed and dropped onto the couch. She now knew that something was terribly wrong, and Aidan was not messaging her because he had very likely been kidnapped.</p>
<p>Zelena buried her face in her hands. How could she find him?<br/>She had to inform the police, that was her only option. She was angry that the man had escaped, he was probably the only one who knew where Aidan was.<br/>Once her head felt a bit better and the pain had eased she stood up, grabbed the coat she had ‘obtained’ and headed to the door. Something fell from the coat and Zelena picked it up. It was a note with an address written on it, and the name ‘Branson’.<br/>The former witch got pale. Branson was Hansel! The man who had intended to kill her. Zelena was confused. What did Aidan had to do with him except that he had interrogated him?<br/>This couldn’t be good. She decided that she would call the police later and get as fast as possible to that address.<br/>Google maps showed a location where she knew was an abandoned factory. It was a deserted area and almost outside the town. A perfect place to imprison someone.<br/>Zelena felt a cold shiver running down her back and looked around in Aidan’s apartment.<br/>She had hoped to find a gun, but of course she didn’t. So she looked for the biggest knife in the kitchen she could find, and hurried to her car to get to Aidan.<br/>At least she hoped he would be there. It was her only trace.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>By the time the sun began to settle, sunlight pouring through the clouded window high above told him how much time had passed. He’d always been good at telling the time by the sun. It had to be late afternoon by now.</p>
<p>Thoroughly starving, parched, and feeling sick, Aidan sat up again and noticed the left hand again. As… amazing as it was to see again, he was thoroughly haunted by the presence of it. Had he gone mad and lost his mind?</p>
<p>No. He needed to find something to pick these damned cuffs. Perhaps the tip of the dagger would be narrow enough to reach into the lock. He raised his leg to be able to reach his hand into his boot to retrieve the dagger tried and managed to cut his hands a few times, but the lock was too small.</p>
<p>The chain was attached to the ceiling, and though Aidan stood tall and tried to reach for it, it was out of reach. He couldn’t reach the door, nor the window.</p>
<p>After the sun had set, he gave up, sitting heavily on the leather coat again. Checking the pockets, he found nothing useful, and eventually, he simply lay back down again and fell asleep.</p>
<p>Dreams came and went. Aidan could barely make sense of anything. Killian could have. The green skinned witch Kelly had dressed like, the threats, the attracted pride he felt in watching her fight. Hook swiping, sword slashing. When Aidan woke again, he would attribute the dream as a figment made from too many beers over Halloween night. It would have been far more convenient if he had simply been arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct. But the blood coating his hand and chest was alarming as well. It wasn’t his. Who had bled all over him? Had he actually impaled someone as he had feared? Where the hell was Kelly?</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>When Zelena arrived outside the gate the sun had set. The lights of her car would give away that someone was coming, so she parked it and walked the rest. The gate was open, and she remembered that she had completely forgotten to call the police.<br/>So she took her phone and dialed 911. She swore when she saw that she had no connection. Going back would take too long and she had to find Aidan. So she put the phone away, and made her way toward the metal structures.</p>
<p>It took almost half an hour until she found a clue of someone being here. There was a car standing at a building, and once she saw it another memory of being dragged to that car with Killian came to her mind. Both had been in there!<br/>She swallowed. Killian had used a knife to get the cuff off of her wrist, and there had been blood. A lot of blood actually. She looked at her wrist. There was no trace of an injury, so she had obviously healed it. But she had abandoned Killian!<br/>She winced as she felt terribly about leaving him behind, and guilt overwhelmed her. How could she have done this!<br/>She was determined to find him, now more than before. There was a door ajar at the building and Zelena carefully sneaked in.</p>
<p>It was almost too dark inside. She didn’t have a flashlight so she used her phone. There was a stairway leading down. Carefully and trying to avoid any noises she stepped down. There were a number of corridors she could follow. Too many!<br/>She paused for a moment, and had a closer look at the floor. She remembered that Killian had been injured, maybe she could find a trace of blood. Deep inside she didn’t want to find any blood, but she needed something to lead her to him.</p>
<p>The light of her phone was weak and she almost wanted to give up and try her luck with one corridor when she saw a stain. She wiped over it and inspected her fingertip. Although the blood had been dried in the meantime, it had left a slight reddish mark. Zelena felt the urge to scream when she found more traces. They led into the right corridor.<br/>It was hard not to call for him and simply run down there, and her steps would echo louder down here, but she wanted to find him.<br/>He halted when a shimmer of light came from the left and she could hear voices behind a closed door. There was a small window and she carefully looked inside. There were three men sitting at a table, playing cards and drinking. Zelena could also see their guns. She swallowed, and sneaked past the door. The blood traces led her further down the corridor and ended at a thick metal door that was locked from outside.</p>
<p>Zelena couldn’t see what or who was inside, but the blood led directly into the room. She listened for noises, but couldn’t hear anything.<br/>She pulled two locking bolts back, and the door swung open.<br/>Her eyes widened in shock and she felt such a pain in her heart when she saw Aidan in a terrible condition, his hands shackled and chained to the ceiling.<br/>She randomly noticed that he had <em>two</em> hands, but she would wonder later.<br/>“Aidan!” Her voice was thick with emotions. She hurried to him, and knelt by his side. She was afraid to touch him, she didn’t want to cause him any pain.<br/>“My god, what did they do to you!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>There had been some muffled chatter periodically through the day, but with no explanation of how he had gotten into this room, and no one visiting him for the questioning he’d expected to receive, Aidan began to dismiss the sounds all together. Perhaps he would simply die in there. He barely even had the strength to attempt to squeeze his hands through the cuffs to escape. Hands. He could have laughed over that. What would it matter if he damaged the left one anyway? It wasn’t real, was it? He specifically remembered the bomb which destroyed his car, took Milah’s life, and shredded his left hand.</p>
<p>Thoroughly exhausted, he barely registered the sound of the locks clicking in the door. He kept his head still but opened his one good eye. The other, he could see through a crack. Maybe it was getting better, but he didn’t really care.</p>
<p>There was a shuffling in the dirt by his head. He recognized Kelly’s voice and his hands squeezed into fists as they were still held up and suspended in the air and tried to sit up by pulling against the shackles. It took some extra effort but he managed to sit up. His head felt like it was swimming in dizziness. Concussion, for sure.</p>
<p>“Kelly,” he mumbled and wet his bottom lip with a parched tongue. “I don’t know how I got here but I think it’s the Rockfords. Get out of here,” he urged while darting a look at the door. “Now.”</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>He looked so terrible that Zelena wasn’t sure in the beginning he would be able to open his eyes or speak at all. One eye was completely swollen, and she hated herself for leaving him behind. He could barely speak and Zelena felt some tears rolling down her cheeks.<br/>She shook her head when he told her to get out of here.<br/>“I would never leave you here, Aidan. This is all my fault, I’m sorry!” Cursed Wicked Witch or not - she should have known better than to leave him behind in that trunk.<br/>She cupped his cheeks as gently as possible and looked into his good eye. “I’d rather die than getting out of here without you. I love you!”</p>
<p>She stroked softly over his cheek before she wiped her tears away, and looked at the shackles. There was a lock to open them, but it didn’t look like a key would fit. Zelena was puzzled, and then she saw Aidan’s left hand - a perfect hand again.<br/>“Magic,” she mumbled. How in OZ’s name was she supposed to open magical shackles without having magic? There must be someone who had magic or possessed it. Zelena had to find that someone.<br/>“Aidan, I have to find something to open…” she didn’t finish her sentence. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened when she saw a knife lying half hidden under Aidan’s coat. <em>The</em> knife.<br/>Slowly she grabbed the Dark One’s dagger and gasped. It was indeed Rumple’s dagger. His name was on it, and Zelena could feel its own magic. Not that she could use it or actually do some magic, but she could sense the hidden power.</p>
<p>She looked from the dagger to the shackles and back to the dagger.<br/>“That could work.” Without an explanation she carefully shoved the blade into the gap beneath the lock, moved it a bit and although she didn’t reckon it would work the shackles sprang open.<br/>She dropped the dagger, and hurried to support Aidan.<br/>Once his left hand was free and the magic resolved, the last appearance of his hand was restored - the hook from his costume was in place again.<br/>“See? We’re getting out here together. Can you walk?”</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Aidan watched as Kelly lifted the dagger saying it could work. He shook his head slowly. “Tried that.” Still she tried to use it to open the locking mechanism but he kept his eye on Kelly and her focused expression on what she was doing. He hadn’t missed what she had said to him. She loved him.</p>
<p>There was a release of pressure against his wrists and his arms dropped to his lap without realizing the raised cuffs had been fully supporting his arms. Tearing his gaze away from Kelly he looked down to see his right hand, blood stained still; and the brace and hook from the costume back in place. Had he just imagined that he’d had a hand for an entire day? “What— Did you say… magic?” His voice was a trace of a whisper and suddenly he slumped forward. Kelly attempted to support him and asked if he could walk. <em>Barely,</em> he thought. Yet with effort he attempted to get up with the leather coat in hand. The pains he’d noticed the day before were still there and he groaned when the full force of them wracked his body but for Kelly’s safety, he would do what he could not to be a burden on her.</p>
<p>“That dagger,” he said, staring at it on the floor. “We have to take it.” He didn’t know why but it seemed important.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>Aidan slumped forward when he was free, unable to support himself and fell into her arms.<br/>“Aidan!” For a moment she feared he would pass out, but luckily he didn’t.<br/>For now she decided to skip his question about magic, how could she explain it to him anyway?<br/>“Give me that coat, I’ll carry it,” Zelena said, but Aidan had something more important in mind to take along. The dagger, of course!<br/>Zelena picked it up, and wrapped it safely into the coat she was carrying now.<br/>“I have it, no worries, I won’t leave the knife behind.”</p>
<p>Although she wondered how Rumple’s dagger ended up here, in this cell with Aidan, she didn’t ask. They had time to talk later, for now they had to get out of here.<br/>“I got you, support yourself on me,” she told him, and wrapped her arm around his waist while he put his arm around her shoulders.<br/>They were about to step out of the cell, when a man entered. A guard to be exact.<br/>“What the hell…” He lifted his gun, but Zelena was faster. She hit him right onto his nose and kneed him into his privates.</p>
<p>She had to let go of Aidan by doing so, but the guard dropped his weapon, sunk to his knees, and groaned.<br/>Zelena fumbled for the dagger, and used the hilt to knock him out.<br/>Then she looked for Aidan. “I’m so sorry for that, are you okay?”<br/>She picked up the weapon and hid the dagger under the coat again before she helped Aidan.<br/>“Let’s hope the other two won’t show up.”</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Aidan held onto Kelly’s shoulder. Standing made him far dizzier than he’d expected, but he had to focus. Suddenly, a masculine voice spoke up and Aidan found himself stumbling into the wall by the door with the loss of support from Kelly, but he had kept his feet. Kelly was fighting someone Aidan hadn’t seen before. Before he could even blink, she had disarmed the man. “Bloody hell,” he muttered in surprise as he turned his eyes from the unconscious body on the ground back up to Kelly. He grinned slightly, proud of her that she had defended herself so quickly, as he reached for Kelly again. “Other two?” If there were two others awaiting them, he should help, he knew. His eyes fell to the hook and he wondered if he could actually use it as a weapon. His gun was gone.</p>
<p>Taking in a deep breath and releasing it slowly, Aidan steeled himself in preparation for who else might be out there. “I’m going to be fine, thanks to you, love. Are you okay?” He squeezed her shoulder as they walked, his ears listening for any approach since his vision wasn’t going to be of much help.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>“There were three guards as far as I could see when I sneaked in. I hope there won’t be more.”<br/>Zelena blushed when he complimented her, and she answered, “I had a good teacher. I’m not harmed. But we have to get you out of here.”<br/>With Aidan supporting on her shoulder again, Zelena led him back the way she came.<br/>“See the door there,” she whispered. “I think it’s closed. We’re lucky. They are in there, we just have to get past that door.”<br/>She gave him a worried look, but they didn’t have any choice. When they came closer to the door Zelena risked a look through the window, and nodded at Aidan.<br/>The guards were playing cards, and obviously no one was missing the third man yet.</p>
<p>They made it past them, and when they reached the staircase Zelena breathed in relief.<br/>“Hold on, we just have to climb the stairs, and get to my car. I’ll take you to a hospital.”</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>She was okay. That was all that mattered. The rest would heal with time. Aidan was accustomed to that. For now, they needed to get the hell out of the building.</p>
<p>The hospital. Aidan did not want to go there either. If Rockford’s men had trapped him in here, they would get him at the hospital as well. What he needed was rest and his gun. “Kelly, just… take me home. Please,” he said through clenched teeth as he released her shoulder to grip the handrail to pull himself up into the dark corridor of the stairwell. They had gotten half way up when the door at the top opened with a screech of metal.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>“Home? But... “ He needed a doctor, he needed medical care. And yet Zelena would not force him to go against his will.<br/>She helped him as best as she could with the stairs, and said, “Alright, I’m taking you home, but…”<br/>A screech of metal and the door swinging open gave Zelena almost a heart attack.<br/>She froze, and stared up to the open door, awaiting to see someone coming. Seconds passed, but no one showed up. Maybe it had been the wind. Yet Zelena would be very careful.</p>
<p>“Let’s hope it was just the wind,” she whispered, and approached the door, the weapon she had taken from the unconscious guard at the ready.<br/>To her relief, no one was there, but the wind had increased.<br/>“It was the wind, let’s get out of here,” she said, and both tried to cross the open area as fast as possible.</p>
<p>Once they passed the gate Zelena wished she had parked closer, but eventually they arrived by her car. Zelena helped Aidan to get in, buckled him up, and got into the driver’s seat and headed home to his apartment as fast as possible.<br/>“I can’t believe we made it out, hang on a bit longer Aidan, I know you must be in pain. Are you sure you want to go home instead of a hospital,” she asked, and gave him a brief, but worried look.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>It took all of Aidan’s strength to get to the car without leaning heavily on Kelly. The last thing he wanted to do was hinder her or to become a burden. Even her buckling him into the car was humiliating, but he kept his mouth shut. He knew she was helping him but he wouldn’t complain. There was no way he could have managed to escape without her help and he knew it.</p>
<p>“I’m certain. If it was the Rockfords that put me here, they’ll find me in the hospital. I just need sleep. And a gun.”</p>
<p>Aidan assumed he must have been struck harder on the head than he realized to have forgotten what happened over the past day and a half. He glanced at Kelly as she drove, now wondering. “I don’t remember what happened, Kelly. How did you find me? Do you know what happened?”</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>The weapon from the guard was still in her possession, and she gave it to him. “I can help you with a gun, but… I’m not sure I know enough to get you back to your feet. I’m not a doctor!”<br/>The traffic became heavy when Aidan asked the questions she hoped he would not. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she couldn’t tell him the truth, could she?<br/>“I’ll tell you once we’re home and made sure you’re cared of. I’m in a state where I’m not sure I can get us home safely if I don’t focus on the traffic now.”<br/>She felt for his hand and squeezed it briefly, hoping he would accept that and she would have some time to think.</p>
<p>She focused on the traffic for a while before she turned into the byroad. Aidan seemed to be sure that Rockford was behind it, but Zelena knew better. In the meantime she could remember everything and that included the wizard who had managed to cuff her and kidnap both of them.<br/>It still pained her that she had Killian back for one night without realizing it, because she had been transformed into a version of herself from a time when she didn’t even know he existed. It was such a cruel curse, because Killian had remembered her. Aidan didn’t know who Kelly was, and Zelena had not known who Killian was. She almost envied Aidan. His burden of knowing the truth lasted only a few hours, while Zelena was aware of both curses now every single second. She would have given a lot just to be reunited with Killian for this night.</p>
<p>She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost missed that they had arrived. She had to reverse a bit, and eventually parked.<br/>“Maybe it’s not Rockford who kidnapped you,” she said while she helped Aidan out of the car.<br/>“Rockford also knows where you’re living; if it would be him he’d come back here. Are you sure you want to return to your apartment?”</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Aidan took the offered gun while Kelly focused on traffic. He tilted the pistol so he could observe the side of it in the reflection from the street lights. It was loaded but the safety was not on. He clicked it into place with his forefinger, instantly missing the more useful prosthetic hand. While he’d grown mildly accustomed to using the hook while preparing for Halloween, nothing bested the usefulness of movable fingers. But as he looked at the shining steel hook, he knew he had two weapons at hand at the moment. The hook required brute force and a level of violence in which the detective had not tapped into before, nor was he sure he wanted to. He could also see the abuse his face took in the mirrored reflection of the hook. Aidan groaned and set the hook down on his lap. He hadn’t been a vain man, but the swollen eye and cuts on his face were going to scar. Kelly was right, he did need a doctor, but he simply could not go to the hospital. Too much was unclear.</p>
<p>Kelly hit the brakes and reversed the car which brought Aidan’s attention back to their whereabouts. “Park ‘round back this time, love,” he advised as he gestured toward the alley behind the row of buildings. Not Rockford that kidnapped him? “I chose to live across from the station and near Roni’s for a reason. It’s a lot more private. If he knew where I lived, he’d have sent someone here already.” Now that he was standing, he stuck the pistol in his belt and grabbed for the heavy leather coat. The dagger came tumbling out of it and Aidan winced as he reached for it. “Bloody thing… I meant to give this to Weaver. Found it in a file with his name on it and I’ve been lugging it around in my boot for days.”</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>He had a good argument that his apartment was still a place Rockford didn’t know. Zelena just wished she could tell him that Rockford wasn’t their problem in this case.<br/>When he lifted the coat the dagger fell out. Zelena had almost forgotten about it, and picked it up before Aidan could.<br/>“I don’t think we should think about that dagger at the moment,” she said. Zelena was not sure if handing the dagger back to Rumple was a good idea. Not that she wanted to take control of him again, but she had a bad feeling about it. She convinced Aidan to let her carry the coat, and for now hid the dagger in it again, took it under her arm and helped Aidan inside.</p>
<p>“I know you told me you don’t want to go to a hospital, but… maybe I can at least bring a doctor here? Do you have someone making house calls? We have to make sure you don’t have any internal injuries.”<br/>Zelena was horrified by thinking Aidan could simply bleed to death and she wouldn’t even notice. She was not going to lose him!</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Kelly picked up the dagger before Aidan did and he thanked her with a terse nod. Bending over to do so was pressuring his ribs so he was okay with letting her take the coat from him as well. “I’ll have you know, darling, that I can take care of myself,” he said lightly so she wouldn’t fret over him, but he added, “But… thank you… for being there. And here now.” He hated to think that he very well could have perished in there. How the hell had Kelly found him anyway? But she had promised to tell him later and he trusted her fully. For the moment, all he wanted was to lie down again because the dizziness had not abated.</p>
<p>Checking his pocket, he found the key to his apartment was still here despite having lost his police-issued gun and badge.</p>
<p>Together, they walked to the back entrance of the building and he unlocked the door and stood against it to prop it open so Kelly could enter. He might be injured beyond tolerance, but he could still be a gentleman and do <em>something</em> without assistance. And damnation, another set of stairs rose before them in between his ability to rest.</p>
<p>Groaning, he made his way up beside Kelly, brushing off any offers for further help. “One of these days, I’m going to buy a house by the Bay. To hell with these stairs and this city. Bloody hell, I feel three hundred years old.” He couldn’t help but joke about it.</p>
<p>With his keys in hand again, Aidan unlocked the door and froze when he saw the destruction within his apartment. “Perhaps I should move sooner than later,” he mused in dismay. The Rockfords <em>did</em> know where he lived then. But it seemed no one was there now at least. What the hell had they been searching for? While he was certain it had to do with him being attacked, he still had no idea why other than revenge against him for his incessant pursuit against them. Then he remembered Branson and the mysterious death. “I don’t need to call a doctor,” he told Kelly, remembering that she had asked him about a private doctor. “What I need to do is call Weaver,” he said. The other detective never had gotten back to him about the clue to Branson’s demise. But first, he just needed to rest and found himself walking to his bedroom and sat wearily on his bed. Even the mattress had been shifted, but he could not care less in the moment. First thing was first. With slow fingers, he scrambled at the straps in his sleeve to attempt to remove the leather brace and hook from his arm. He was done with being the pirate and simply wanted to get back to being himself again, to feeling normal.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>When his apartment door came in sight Zelena suddenly remembered that someone had been there.<br/>Not exactly knowing how to warn him Zelena said while Aidan was unlocking the door and either made fun of buying a house by the Bay or really meant it, “Aidan, someone…”<br/>He had opened the door and froze.<br/>“...was here.” Zelena finished her sentence and sighed. Aidan’s remark about moving sooner than later was something Zelena welcomed. At least he hadn’t lost his humor.</p>
<p>They entered, and Zelena closed the door while Aidan headed toward his bedroom, still refusing to call a doctor. Instead he wanted to call Weaver.<br/>Detectives were obviously as stubborn as pirates, Zelena thought, but didn’t object. She knew kidnapping and assault was a serious crime and he had to inform Weaver and his department.<br/>Aidan dropped on his bed and began to remove his brace and hook.<br/>“Let me give you a hand,” Zelena said gently, and kneeled down in front of him.<br/>The hook was quickly removed, and Zelena insisted that he took off his clothes before he would go to sleep. She had at least to survey his stomach and ribs, checking if he had bruises there as well.</p>
<p>As carefully as possible she helped him get rid of his boots, shirt and pants, and found indeed some bruises.<br/>“I’ll get you some water,” she said and went to the kitchen. When she returned Aidan was still awake, but looked like he would faint at any moment.<br/>Zelena was still thinking about what to do when it came to her. Kelly could be helpful here.<br/>She handed Aidan the water and said “Aidan, I have to make sure that you’re not bleeding internally. I have someone who can help us, please allow me to call him and trust me. He’s one of my people and absolutely loyal. Please, I’m worried about you.”<br/>She had taken his hand and her blue eyes begged him to give her permission.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Aidan was struggling to stay upright while his clumsy fingers fumbled with removing the hook, but Kelly was there in a moment and helped him remove it. He hadn’t realized how bruised up he was until she helped him remove his clothes as well, leaving him sitting in his underwear. He had sensed it from the pains that wracked his body, but seeing the mottled patterns on his ribs, arms, and knuckles caused Aidan to sigh. “Thank you, Kelly,” he mumbled after taking the water glass and drinking it too quickly. Drawing back his hand, he again saw the dried blood that had encrusted his fingers, still unsure of where it had come from. He personally wasn’t cut anywhere besides his forehead but he doubted that had come from himself. Perhaps he’d gotten a good hit on whomever had kidnapped him. “Alright,” he agreed to her request to call someone. “I’ll need the bathroom and then... If you don’t mind, I need sleep.”</p>
<p>It felt odd to him to leave Kelly alone in the wreck of his apartment but he was unable to play host at the moment without making a fool of himself in his incapacitated state. Though he was starving, sleep was more of a demand. After his bladder’s needs were taken care of and he had carefully washed the blood from his hand with a washcloth propped against the side of the sink, he looked up at his reflection and winced. He looked like hell. Shaking his head, Aidan left the bathroom and sunk back into the mattress, sleep claiming him immediately.</p>
<p>Meanwhile outside, a flash of green light shimmered before the woman pulled the door of the apartment building open. It had not been locked which made her smirk. She climbed the stairwell and pulled back the hood of her coat to reveal her blonde hair which fell down her back. Her face, however, was disguised so that she would not appear recognizable. It was well known by Gothel and Doctor Faciler that some of the citizens of Hyperion Heights had managed to slip free of the curse Gothel had orchestrated so carefully. Regina and Ivy were two of them who had awoken, but that damned fiasco Faciler had orchestrated over Halloween had only made things worse as several people had dressed as their true selves, the Halloween curse backfiring. The pirate had become himself briefly which enraged Gothel to no end. If he had encountered <em>their</em> daughter and woken her from the curse as well, it would spell the end for Gothel and her plans. To keep the pirate from getting too much leverage, she had convinced Facilier’s idiot goons to take the pirate and the green witch away while Gothel hunted for Alice herself. Unfortunately, she had failed to find the girl. The goons had called Gothel and informed her that their prisoner had escape so Gothel kept watch over the building and was delighted when she saw the pair of them limping their way inside. One of them was in pain. <em>Wonderful,</em> the witch thought to herself as she had concocted her own plan on how to intervene.</p>
<p>Her own suspicions about Kelly Greene’s state of awareness in Gothel’s curse had not been confirmed yet. But this was her chance to see exactly who was on the other side of the door to the detective’s apartment. Gothel was determined to check in on the pair. And make certain they were cursed, but she would not be showing up with her own face just in case either had remained awake after Facilier’s failed curse. The face of Eloise Gardener showed as she knocked loudly on the door to the apartment, her bag of herbal remedies carefully held at her side. Eloise Gardener--the face of the woman who Detective Rogers had saved from that warehouse a little over a year prior, smiled pleasantly as she waited for the door to be answered.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>“Thank you, and of course I don’t mind if you go to sleep, on the contrary. I would have ordered you to do so,” Zelena said, honestly relieved when he gave her permission to call for a doc. She watched him walking the few steps to the bathroom, and in every step she could see that he was in pain and exhausted. All she could do now was to make that call and get her men here.<br/>However, she waited until Aidan was finished and came out of the bathroom again.<br/>Only when she saw him lying in his bed and fall asleep within seconds she walked back into the living room to get her phone. And she would clean this mess while she was waiting.</p>
<p>She was about to press the button to dial Mark, her most trustworthy friend and master of Bobby the Newf. She would ask him to come here and guard the apartment, and she also knew he had this friend, Doctor Mayfield, someone who didn’t ask too many questions if the payment was right. Zelena knew him in person, as he had made some housecalls for some of Kelly’s customers at a time. He had proven to be trustworthy too.<br/>And Aidan would finally get to know Bobby. Zelena smiled when she thought about their first encounter here in Seattle with the unplanned bath. He had never again asked about Bobby, so he didn’t know that Zelena had actually talked about a dog.</p>
<p>Just when she was about to press the button on her phone someone knocked at the door.<br/>Zelena let her hand sink, and put her phone away. She swallowed. Except for Detective Weaver she couldn’t think of anyone who would show up at Aidan’s apartment, and Weaver didn’t know yet what had happened.<br/>Zelena felt her heart beating faster. One of Facilier’s men had been here before, maybe they had come back to finish their work? But they wouldn’t knock, would they?<br/>Zelena decided not to take any risk.<br/>She went into the kitchen, and grabbed for a long knife when the knocking sounded again.<br/>The knife hidden behind her back she carefully opened the door ajar.<br/>“Who are you,” she asked, quite surprised when she saw an unknown woman standing in front of the door.<br/>The blonde was very pretty, and Zelena had never seen her before. Maybe she wanted to sell something, so she quickly added, “We won’t buy anything.”</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>When the door was pulled open, Gothel pasted a pleasant smile upon her face but it didn’t reach her eyes. Her eyes were assessing the woman who had answered. Though Gothel was very familiar with the Wicked Witch, she wondered if the person looking back at her was in fact the wicked witch or the esteemed party planner.</p>
<p>“Hello,” she said shortly with a dismissive once-over glance at how Zelena was dressed. She fit into this world well enough but that didn’t indicate whether she was awake. Without waiting for an answer, she pushed past Zelena and made an appearance of observing the chaotic wreckage of the apartment. Well, it was clear enough that the goons had searched the place despite the report of not finding the Dark One’s dagger.</p>
<p>Calling over her shoulder, Gothel remarked, “I’m here to help Aidan, er--that is, <em>Detective Rogers.</em> I’m… an old friend of his. Eloise. I live nearby and saw through my window that he appeared injured as you helped him here. The life of a police officer, you know.” A look of sincere concern crossed her face as she raised her bag. “I’m a holistic healer and can help. I know he can be a bit… sensitive about hospitals since the accident,” she added more quietly as if she would know Aidan personally.</p>
<p>She cringed as she glanced about the floor to find a clear path toward the open bedroom door where the pirate was clearly in the bed. She cast a quick glare at Zelena with hopes to find out if she was the wicked witch by goading her with a snarky remark. “I hope you’re not the cleaning lady. I’ve never seen Aidan become so messy. He should dock your pay.” Lifting up her bottom of her skirt, she stepped over the detritus intent on seeing how the pirate had fared after the <em>care</em> of the goons.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>The woman simply pushed the door open and Zelena stumbled back. Without answering any questions yet, she entered.<br/>"Hey! I didn't give you permission to enter." The witch was alarmed, and her hand with the knife began to move.<br/>In that moment the woman eventually answered.<br/>Since she used Aidan's full name it was obvious that she knew him, but that didn't mean he must necessarily know her. Aside from that, a lot of people might know that Aidan was a police officer.</p>
<p>"Eloise?" Zelena repeated her name frowning. An old friend? She didn't recall that Aidan ever mentioned her, and yet, she mentioned the accident and that Aidan was sensitive about hospitals.<br/>Still not good enough, it must be up and down the newspapers, or at least the curse would let people remember it and who on earth would enjoy to go to a hospital?<br/>The only thing that held Zelena back from drumming her off immediately was the fact that she claimed to be a healer.</p>
<p>In the few moments Eloise gave Zelena her spiel the witch had to think about it and decide whether to believe her or not. But then the foreign woman asked if Zelena would be the cleaning lady and actually insulted her by making a comment about the mess. Not enough that she thought of Zelena only being the cleaning lady, when she also dared to simply walk right towards Aidan's bedroom Zelena acted.</p>
<p>"Don't you dare enter his bedroom," she warned and pushed past her. With the knife still in her hand, but the tip pointing to the floor she blocked her way.<br/>"I'm his girlfriend, Kelly," she stated, and glared at her. "And he never mentioned you."<br/>For a moment Zelena felt a sting of jealousy. If she was telling the truth and being an old friend AND a healer, why didn't Aidan mention her before? Especially when Zelena had begged him to call a doctor. Either she was lying in some way, or Aidan didn't mention her on purpose because… maybe they had been together? No, he had told her since 'Milah's death' he hadn't even been on a date, and Zelena could feel that something wasn't right with that woman.</p>
<p>Well, there was a way to find out, and Aidan needed help.<br/>"You wait right here while I try to wake him. I won't let anyone near him I don't know, especially not after what happened."<br/>To remind Eloise that Zelena was armed she lifted the knife in a not threatening way, just enough for her to remember.<br/>Then she entered the bedroom and shut the door to block her view on Aidan.<br/>She didn't want to wake him, but in that case she didn't have another choice.</p>
<p>She sat down beside him, and stroked carefully through his hair. "Aidan. Aidan I know you need to rest, but… you have to wake up for a moment."<br/>She placed a kiss on his cheek, and shook him gently by his shoulder.<br/>"Aidan, please love. Wake up."</p>
<p>Once he did Zelena made sure his upper body was covered and opened the door.<br/>"Do you know this woman? She claims to be an old friend of yours and said she's a healer."</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Gothel pursed her lips as Zelena blocked her path to the bedroom. My, wasn’t she quite protective of the pirate. Even with the knife in hand, which was a clear threat to the witch, Gothel was not convinced that the other woman was awake. One thing was certain, however. Without access to her magic, Zelena--or this… Kelly persona she had been cursed with--might feel the need for a weapon. Gothel allowed the slightest of smiles to turn up the corners of her lips as she nodded. That weapon would do no good against her. With one flick of the wrist, she could have it flying out of the way. But for now, she would not reveal herself.</p>
<p>The door was shut in her face, and Gothel scoffed. She turned her head to eye the detritus again. If there was anything she could spy to ascertain the nature of either Zelena or Hook, she wanted to know. The leather coat had been dropped askew on the sofa, but it was across the room. While the coat emanated some level of significance, Gothel dismissed it. She knew the pair had inadvertently dressed as their true selves for the ridiculous holiday of Halloween.</p>
<p>The door was pulled open again and Gothel’s attention turned forward again. Her eyes landed on Hook, bleary-eyed and conscious in the bed. His once handsome face was damaged with a swollen eye and cuts here and there. Pasting on a concerned expression, Gothel touched her chest over her heart as she approached. She didn’t give a damn about the pirate, but this was a rather important visit so she had to play her part convincingly.</p>
<p>Aidan was stirred from sleep with a light jostling to his shoulders. He was confused for a moment until he saw through his good eye that someone else was in the room beside Kelly. Her words didn’t register until he saw the face of the woman as she loomed closer. It was clear she was inspecting him as well and he frowned. It was as if the light was just clicked on as he recalled why she was so familiar and he nodded. “Aye. Eloise… Gardener,” he said with a rumble of voice, still half-asleep. He wanted to assure Kelly that it was alright and how he knew her, but with the swimming of his head, he found that forming words took too much effort. What the hell was she doing in his apartment? He wondered. He hadn’t seen her in… over a year. But Kelly was there and he trusted her judgement so he felt relaxed enough to slip back into unconscious bliss.</p>
<p>Gothel pulled back in how she was observing Hook and turned to look at Zelena, speaking quietly so as not to disturb his rest. “Please. Make yourself useful and boil some water. I’m going to brew a tea that should help with the pain.” Expecting no argument, because surely this ‘girlfriend’ would like nothing more than to help ease his pain, she faced the pirate again. She began to reach for the blanket which mostly concealed him up to his bared shoulders to see what other damage those goons had done. If the rest of him appeared as his face did…</p>
<p>In knowing of humans and their need for privacy and propriety, Gothel paused with her hand on the blanket. The girlfriend would need an assurance. “Don’t worry, dear. This is nothing I haven’t seen of Aidan before. I’ll need to check him over to make sure everything is fine. To see the bruising better. Now… the water?”</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>Aidan knew her as it seemed. He knew her last name, but that was all he said. It wasn’t enough for Zelena yet, and the fact that this Eloise had at least told the truth that both knew each other nagged at her. Why did he never mention her?</p>
<p>Zelena didn’t like Eloise, and the fact that she simply took over and began to order Zelena to make herself <em>useful</em> made her boil in anger. It was only because of Aidan and his need to sleep that Zelena didn’t yell at this impertinent person.<br/>She took a deep breath, and squeezed her fingers tightly around the hilt of the knife she had taken from the nightstand again.<br/>Zelena’s eyes sparkled in anger when she saw Eloise’s hand reaching for the blanket, but it was her next words that let her snap at her.</p>
<p>A wave of pure jealousy and anger washed through Zelena when Eloise mentioned that she had seen Aidan before. Undressed! So they had had something?<br/>“He’s <b>my</b> boyfriend. You better watch your words. The fact that Aidan seems to know you doesn’t mean I have to trust you. And I do <em>not</em> trust you.”<br/>Zelena put the knife aside, and without asking for permission Zelena grabbed Eloise’s bag and checked the content.<br/>All she could see were herbs, not dangerous as far as she could see, but it felt good to know what this woman was up to.<br/>“Don’t get any ideas, I’ll get you the hot water, but only for Aidan.”</p>
<p>Zelena grabbed the knife again, and headed to the kitchen to set up a kettle with water.<br/>While she waited for the water to boil, she made a step into the room so she could see what Eloise was doing with Killian.<br/>It took all her willpower not to simply strangle her when she saw her touching Aidan’s body.<br/>The way she had looked at him and assured Zelena that this was nothing she had <em>not</em> seen of Aidan before told Zelena that she hadn’t lied in this topic either.<br/>Aidan had something to explain!<br/>Zelena tried not to look at her because she feared that she would lose it at some point, so she quickly tidied up the room a bit. At least most of the papers and things that laid on the floor.</p>
<p>Aidan’s, or more Killian’s leather coat was still lying on the couch, and she decided to better hand it back into his wardrobe. When she lifted it up Rumple’s dagger dropped to the couch. Zelena had completely forgotten about it. However, this was something she better not let anyone see, so she looked around for a place to keep it save until they were alone again.<br/>She unceremoniously shoved it into one of Killian’s boots, and threw her own coat over it. It looked not draped, but like she simply had dropped it there.</p>
<p>The kettle began to make a noise and Zelena quickly headed back, and poured the steaming water into a large cup. This time she left the knife in the kitchen, if needed, she would kill Eloise with her bare hands.<br/>“Here’s the water,” she said and put it onto the nightstand.<br/>“Since you examined him, tell me the truth. Any internal injuries? Can you fix him?”</p>
<p>Zelena would still call her own people she promised herself, no matter what this herb witch was going to say or do.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Her bag was ripped unceremoniously from her hand and Gothel crossed her arms over her chest while Zelena inspected it. Of course, there was nothing but herbs and fungi within. She didn’t need the sort of weapons humans use, or what Zelena insisted on carrying around. When the bag inspection was complete, Gothel nodded. “I hope you’re satisfied. He doesn’t need you delaying his recovery.”</p>
<p>When Zelena left the bedroom, Gothel pulled back the blanket to see Hook’s bruised body and sat herself at his underwear-covered hip. The pirate turned his head when the apartment’s cool air struck his exposed skin but remained unconscious for now. That would change soon. The fact that he had called her Eloise was proof that at least he was still under the curse despite Facilier’s meddling in her affairs. That was an intense relief. If Detective Rogers knew he was Killian Jones again, he would certainly go after his daughter, the only one who could possibly destroy Gothel. Why hadn’t he done so when he was temporarily himself again? Because of Gothel’s intervention and the kidnapping. It had worked well enough to keep him secluded until Facilier’s curse wore off with the dawn’s rays.</p>
<p>While the witch doctor had performed his own curse to help put certain people who had awoken under a memory-wiping curse, Gothel had feared the effects had proven to diminish her own carefully laid plans. She was still unsure over Zelena’s state. She certainly was a violent one, if she was still cursed. Making a mental note to watch her back, Gothel listened as the water from the kitchen filled a kettle and some straightening up in the living room was done.</p>
<p>The bruising was much worse on one side of Hook’s ribs. Potentially broken ribs by the coloring but there was no bruising around his navel, a good sign for him. It might be better for her if she had just ordered the goons to have killed him. There would have been no chance of him encouraging Alice to wake from her own curse in that case. For now, she didn’t touch him because if he cried out now, she’d never get him to ingest the tea.</p>
<p>Gothel plucked her bag up from the floor and sat it on her hip to retrieve a small bag. She tapped a small measure into a gauze bag just as Zelena returned with the hot water for the tea which Gothel plucked up and set the gauze bag in to steep. “Excellent. Thank you. I’ll know in a minute how he’s doing. Since you’re insistent on being here, you may put your ‘girlfriend status’ to use. We need to get him to sit upright to drink the tea. Get behind him and lift him up. After we get him to drink, you’ll need to hold him because I’m going to be adding pressure to his organs and it will likely hurt despite the tea if he’s gotten any internal bleeding. If he doesn’t, then he will just need time to sleep and heal.”</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>“What kind of herbs did you use,” Zelena wanted to know, and took the cup to smell at it. Just to be sure. Maybe she could not use her magic to check on the tea, but she still had her nose and knowledge about herbs. Unfortunately this was an unknown mixture for her so she didn’t know what Eloise was really up to. She had to trust Aidan as it seemed. If this woman would be a potential killer he had surely said more than just her last name.<br/>So she only ground her teeth when the woman was close to become impertinent again and sat down behind Aidan.</p>
<p>Once she focused on him she forgot about Eloise and only cared to lift Aidan up as careful as possible.<br/>He groaned a bit, but he didn’t wake up. “Shouldn’t he be awake?” She asked Eloise and had once more a bad feeling about this woman. Zelena couldn’t put a finger on it, but the longer she watched her the more she had the feeling to know her. It puzzled her, because she was sure that she had never seen her face before.<br/>However, it was more important to care for Aidan now.</p>
<p>“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” She asked. She didn’t want her to cause him some extra pain, but she knew there wasn’t another way as long as she couldn’t talk him into going into a hospital. “Just be careful,” Zelena added.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Once again, Zelena’s suspicion was causing delays. Gothel gave the other witch a pensive stare for a moment as she sniffed the tea. “Why don’t you taste it then if you don’t trust that I have Aidan’s best interests <em>at heart?”</em> She smirked again, the challenge in her eyes. “It’s a mixture of several herbs. Lavender, rosemary, turmeric. Your garden variety but it’s for the pain. And a bit of valerian root for sleeping through the pain. All one hundred percent natural.”</p>
<p>As Zelena wedged herself behind Hook and began to prop him up, the man groaned fitfully and Gothel had to hide her amusement behind a serious expression of concern. “I am a homeopathic healer,” she stated again for reassurance over her knowledge as she reached for the tea. “There now, Aidan,” she crooned, reaching out to cup the side of his face to encourage him to wake up enough to drink the tea. The prickles of his beard sent a discouraging shot of hate through her, but she had to tamper down on that emotion as well. “This is hot, but it will make you feel better. Kelly is right behind you and I’m right here.”</p>
<p>Aidan’s eye opened just enough to allow him to see that he was being jostled around again. Hearing Kelly’s name and the assurance that he was being cared for because of his injuries. He frowned a raised his lip, not wanting to drink tea. He wanted sleep! But Kelly had mentioned calling someone to help and he had agreed. Why was Eloise here? That part was unclear in his muddled state of awareness. There was a mug being offered and he took it in hand to serve himself. He wasn’t helpless despite feeling like he’d been put through hell. He took a sip of the hot liquid and winced as it hit his tongue.</p>
<p>“There you go, keep drinking,” Eloise encouraged. Aidan could feel Kelly behind himself and he turned his head to the side to try to see her but with his other eye so swollen, it was not going to work.</p>
<p>Eloise gasped then and she reached out to touch the side of his head. Pain exploded through his head and he cried out and nearly dropped the mug on his bare chest, but she snatched it quickly from his hand and set it on the nightstand. “You must have a terrible headache. I suppose a concussion. I can help you with that too. Lay him back down.” Aidan had already deduced he had a concussion. This woman was only stating the obvious. But at least he hadn’t been forced to go to the hospital. So, he complied and helped Kelly by shifting himself down into the comfort of the mattress again. Before she could leave him, however, he grabbed her hand. Sleep was weighing heavily upon him again as if a warm blanket had just enveloped him. He didn’t realize the amount of valerian root in the tea was overwhelming him.</p>
<p>Gothel observed how the effects of the tea were taking over quickly. “It’s working,” she told Zelena. Her eyes flicked to how the two of them held hands. It was sickening, really. “Please move out of the way.” Without waiting, Gothel turned Hook’s head on the pillow to get a better look at the injury on the side of his head. “Fresh water and clean towels,” she instructed shortly. “Get them now. You will clean the blood off of his head while I check for internal bleeding.”</p>
<p>She immediately moved to glance at his chest and prodded at the rather large bruise on his side to see if he was still conscious. Having noticed a flare of jealousy in the eyes of the other woman, there was something she wanted to say to provoke Zelena into revealing herself but she wouldn’t say it if Hook was listening. Hook made a low groan noise which turned into a loud moan of pain as Gothel pressed harder. Perhaps he hadn’t drank enough of the tea after all…</p>
<p>To cover her actions, Gothel announced to Kelly, “He’s broken a rib, but I don’t suspect internal bleeding there.”</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>There it was again, she expressed her closeness to Aidan. Zelena listened very carefully when Eloise named the herbs she had used, and Zelena had to admit that everything sounded good so far.<br/>Although she didn't want to argue when they were around Aidan, she couldn't hold it back anymore.<br/>"I told you that you better watch your words," she hissed at her.<br/>"Stop acting like you would know him better, I know you don't otherwise he had mentioned you before."<br/>Ever in her own ears her words didn't sound convincing, and that angered her even more. That woman had simply showed up, and within 5 minutes had shook her faith in Aidan and planted doubts and mistrust in her.<br/>She really seemed to know him, and she acted like they had been together for a long time, so why didn't Aidan tell Zelena about her?<br/>It was nagging at Zelena, and she simply hated that woman.</p>
<p>Another groan of Aidan caught her attention, and Zelena felt that he was awake. Or at least... wasn't sleeping anymore.<br/>"Aidan, I'm here," she assured him and winced when he winced because of the hot liquid.<br/>"I know it's hot, but it will hopefully help you. Please, try to drink a bit more."<br/>She stroked gently over his shoulder and hoped she had found a place where he wasn't injured.</p>
<p>He had just turned his head to the side when he cried out in pain, and Zelena snapped at Eloise.<br/>"Be careful for god's sake!" She was just shocked, but did as Eloise told her.<br/>She felt that Aidan helped her, and Zelena stood up so he had some space again. She was about to step to the side when he grabbed her hand.<br/>She was back at his side at once, and squeezed his hand gently.<br/>"I'm here Aidan, I won't leave you. I promise. You need to rest now."<br/>She saw him slipping away and hoped he wouldn't have a fitful sleep.</p>
<p>Eloise announced that it had worked, and began to order Zelena around again. It almost sounded that she didn't want him to hold Zelena's hand, and the witch bared her teeth behind Eloise's back.<br/>Before she would do something she would regret Zelena went to get the towles and fresh water.</p>
<p>It took her only a minute before she was back at Aidan's side, and sat down beside him to clean the blood off from his head wound. She felt a pain in her heart when she heard Aidan's moan of pain, and glared at Eloise.<br/>"I thought you said the tea would help for his pain, I don't think it did. Are you sure he has no internal bleedings?"<br/>Zelena was angry at herself. Why did she allow this person to enter. Or better, why didn't she throw her out after she had allowed herself to enter.</p>
<p>Zelena took a deep breath, and made a decision. Aidan needed the help of a real doctor, not a homeopathic healer.<br/>"I am thankful for your help, but I think you better leave us now. I will call some of my staff to check on him, just to be absolutely sure he will be okay again.”<br/>She stood up to hint out that she would escort this impertinent woman to the door.<br/>“Once Aidan is back on his feet again, he’ll let you know. Or not.”<br/>She was still unsure what to think of the two and hoped that she had to see her never again.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Zelena challenged Gothel’s knowledge over Hook and the corners of her lips raised a hair. “Oh but I do know him,” she said quietly with a sweet undertone which contradicted the fire in her eyes. To hell with whether or not Hook was conscious enough to overhear. He was cursed and her words wouldn’t make a difference. She stood and grabbed her bag, but never took her eyes off Zelena. The level of evil twisting within Gothel’s innards had to be expressed vocally. One final barb and then she would take her leave, for if she was Zelena and not Kelly, she would know of what she spoke of. “He and I share a child.” She tilted her head and shrugged as if indifferent of any reaction that would follow. Of one thing, she was certain. The witch did not have magic and she couldn’t retaliate in any way that would matter. After observing the reaction that the barb left, Gothel turned and left the bedroom, speaking louder over her shoulder as she approached the door. “I don’t need to await a call. I’m always watching.”</p>
<p>One final thing was pulling at her awareness and she turned her head to look down at the floor. A coat was dropped without care over a pair of boots. She paused only for a moment to stare at it, but decided it would be better if she left.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>Just when Zelena thought she would eventually get rid of the woman everything changed.<br/>In the first moment she was tempted to simply ignore her words, satisfied with the fact that this woman would leave, but some words Eloise spoke hit Zelena right into her heart.<br/>She and Aidan shared a child? Zelena was thunderstruck, but her heart and mind was racing.<br/>Impossible, she thought. Aidan would never lie to her about having a child, and suddenly realization struck. The pieces fell in place, and Zelena’s eyes began to sparkle of anger.<br/>Aidan didn’t have a child, but Killian had. Although this woman looked differently she now knew who she was. That’s why she thought she was familiar, and now Zelena knew why she had suddenly shown up here.</p>
<p>“Gothel,” Zelena spat out her name.<br/>The witch was about to leave, but had stopped and looked down at the floor at the coat Zelena had used to hide Killian’s boots and the dagger in it. The dagger.<br/>The last piece fell into place, and Zelena understood everything. Gothel and Facilier were probably working hand in hand, and both were after the dagger.<br/>However, in this very moment Zelena neither cared about the dagger nor the fact that Gothel still had her magic. She didn’t care about anything but Aidan, and the woman who caused him so much pain, and would kill him without hesitation had just walked away from his side.</p>
<p>Zelena made three steps toward the witch, grabbed her by her shoulder, and pulled her around so she would face her. Then Zelena lunged out and punched Gothel right into her face.<br/>The force of Zelena’s punch slammed her back against the doorframe, and Zelena grabbed her by her throat. Her eyes were pure fire and she spoke with clenched teeth, her words full of hate.<br/>“What did you do to him, answer me! What was in that tea?”<br/>She was so worried that Gothel did something to Killian - Aidan - that she couldn’t think clearly anymore. Her hands closed tighter around Gothel’s throat, and Zelena squeezed.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Gothel’s shoulder was pulled hard and before she could defend herself, she was struck in the face. The other witch’s fingers squeezed at her throat but Gothel grinned as she wiggled her fingers at her side. The magical disguise concealing her true identity vanished. Her golden hair was now in the braids that would identify her so easily. The squeezing at her throat was uncomfortable but with a magical blast, Zelena was pushed back and off of her.</p>
<p>“Have a little respect, Zelena,” Gothel said confidently as she brushed a hand down her clothes to straighten herself from the attack. “You can’t possibly expect me to tell you that after assaulting me.” She leaned forward almost daring Zelena to act again. “I should call the police and have you arrested.” Her eyes moved to look past her attacker at the man in the bed. “Seems I already have one in my pocket after all. He saved the terrified Eloise Gardener from being kidnapped in a warehouse. All I have to do is show him my neck and he would come to <em>my</em> rescue again, don’t you think? Such an honorable pirate… and detective.” She tilted her head and waved her fingers across her skin to produce the proof of deep red splotches left by the pressure of fingers.</p>
<p>She’d gotten the information she came for. It was always best to know where one’s enemies lay. Her eyes landed on Zelena again as she stood before her. “Without magic, you’re not so wicked anymore, are you? I wonder if your sweet daughter might still have any magic…” That should be motivation enough to cause Zelena to mind herself rather than butt into Gothel’s affairs.</p>
<p>Gothel smirked again and turned to leave. With a magical wave of her hand, the door flew open, banging against the counter behind it.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>The sudden usage of magic against Zelena brought her halfway back to senses.<br/>Breathing heavily the witch kept her distance, and her hand twitched when Gothel leaned forward. She wanted nothing more than to punch her again, but she knew without magic she didn’t have a chance.<br/>“Do you really think Aidan would believe any of your words?” Zelena said in a condescending tone. “And you might want to remember that I’m not the only one who is awake from your curse. You’re not as powerful as you might think you are. And Aidan is under my protection.”</p>
<p>She felt hatred burn inside her for this woman. She didn’t know if she had done something to Aidan, and Gothel was mocking her, even threatening her.<br/>Zelena had some answers on her tongue, but bit them back when Gothel threatened her daughter.<br/>Cold fury and also fear appeared in Zelena’s eyes.<br/>“If you lay a single finger on Robyn, you’ll regret it, I swear. You better not underestimate me, witch.”<br/>Zelena was shaking in anger, and she knew that she had somehow to find a way to protect Margot and Aidan from her. She doubted that Gothel would hurt Tilly as she knew she was the last option to keep Killian away from her if her curse should be broken.<br/><em>When it would be broken</em>, Zelena corrected herself and felt the need to say that.</p>
<p>“Every curse can be broken, Gothel, and yours has been active too long already. And once Killian and everyone else remember…”<br/>Zelena’s corner of the mouth twitched. It was clear she was looking forward to that moment. But for now she had to hold herself back. If she just knew if and what Gothel did to Aidan…<br/>Aidan, she better go back to him.<br/>“Don’t ever come back here.”</p>
<p>Zelena would slam the door shut once Gothel had made a step over the doorstep.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Gothel shot a look of venom over her shoulder at Zelena’s clear threat. “We’ll see,” she said shortly and threw her hand into the air, dissipating into the ether. She never heard the door slam.</p>
<p>The noises from the living room didn’t bother Aidan. He continued sleeping, oblivious to the happenings. The dreams, however, were chaotic. The blonde woman in his apartment sparked terrible memories that were too buried deeply to make sense. There was an intense burning pain in his heart at some points of the dream which were associated with another woman’s face that he could only relate to feelings of anger and loss. He would continue to sleep for many hours despite any noises or movement due to the high dosage of sleeping herbs he had ingested.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>Once Gothel had vanished Zelena hurried back to Aidan.<br/>She took his hand, felt for his pulse and was scared that he would get worse any second, but after half an hour she calmed down. Maybe Gothel didn’t poison him, but the herbs had only knocked him out. At least Zelena hoped so. She would not leave his side!<br/>Well, maybe she had to leave the room from time to time, but she wouldn’t leave this apartment. Not without making sure Aidan would be safe.<br/>There was also something else she had to take care of…</p>
<p>Zelena left the bedroom door open while she took the dagger out of Killian’s boot, and put it under his bed. It was clear now that the dagger was probably the reason Aidan was lying here, badly injured, and Zelena didn’t want to risk anything. She had also brought her phone along and finally made the call she wanted to make an hour ago.</p>
<p>“Mark, it’s Kelly. I need you to bring Dr. Mayfield and Bobby to the following address.”<br/>She told him where to come, and felt relieved when Mark promised to be there with the doc and Bobby in less than 20 minutes.</p>
<p>She was glad that she still could rely on her company and team, after all she was still the owner.<br/>While she waited she boiled some water again, and made coffee for herself and the two men she expected.<br/>Her timing was perfect, just when the coffee was ready someone knocked at the door.<br/>Zelena opened, and smiled when she saw Mark and Dr. Mayfield, while Bobby almost knocked her down in his excitement to see her again.<br/>Zelena was glad to see all of them, let them in.<br/>“He’s in the bedroom and asleep. A… homeopathic healer was here half an hour ago, and she made him a tea with valerian root, but I wanted to have a real doctor check on his injuries. And before you ask, he is the one who rejects going to a hospital. I’m glad he allowed me to call you.”<br/>Dr. Mayfield only nodded, and went to check on his new patient.<br/>Zelena let him work and offered a seat to Mark and brought the coffee.<br/>When she had sat down opposite him, Bobby came and placed his large head on her lap, demanding some tender loving care.</p>
<p>Zelena scratched the dog between its ears, and told Mark why she had called him. Of course she stayed to a story that was mostly the truth, but kept the reason for the kidnapping. And the curse of course.<br/>Mark agreed to leave Bobby here for protection while he would begin to contact some people to find out who did that. Zelena only nodded. She knew he would never get close to Facilier or Gothel, but she would at least like to see the men punished who did this to Aidan.</p>
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</p>
<p>They exchanged some other news about the company and also Rockford, and enjoyed the coffee.<br/>Eventually the door to Aidan’s bedroom opened, and Dr. Mayfield came out. His expression was professional and neutral like always, and Zelena got nervous.<br/>Still, she first offered him a seat and a coffee which the doctor gladly accepted.<br/>“So? How is he?” Zelena asked.<br/>Dr. Mayfield told her actually the same Gothel had. Aidan had a concussion, a broken rib, but luckily no internal injuries and needed to rest.<br/>Zelena was relieved to hear that, although she knew that Aidan would be in pain for a while.<br/>Dr. Mayfield told her that he stitched the cuts on his face and he had a good feeling that Aidan wouldn’t have any scars left.<br/>Zelena thanked him, and the doctor left her some painkillers for Aidan and promised to be back to check on him the next day.</p>
<p>Mark had left food for Bobby in the kitchen, and both men said their good-byes for today. And then Zelena and Bobby were alone with Aidan.<br/>“Guess I should introduce you to my boyfriend,” Zelena said to Bobby, and waved the newf to follow her into Aidan’s bedroom.<br/>“Bobby, meet Aidan.” She stroked over Aidan’s head to show the dog that this man was someone she loved, and Bobby began to sniff at his Aidan’s hand. Then he put his head beside Aidan’s and sat down.<br/>“I see you like him, you’re the best, Bobby.”<br/>Zelena hugged him, and aside from both having something to eat they stayed with Aidan.</p>
<p>When night set in Zelena laid down in Aidan’s bed beside him, but made sure she didn’t touch him. Bobby made himself comfortable on the floor, and while Zelena fell asleep Bobby watched over both humans.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Despite the tugging and pricking of the needle along his scalp and forehead, Aidan slept deeply. It was not until after the sun had long been set that Aidan woke with the intense need for the loo that he realized he was not alone in the bed. There was something heavy next to him, something that breathed heavily in loud pants.</p>
<p>He tilted his head so that he barely moved but opened his eyes, noting that the swelling had gone down mostly in the one eye so that he could see. But with the darkness in the room, he could only see a black blur. The heavily breathing thing leaned closer, its hot breath fanning over Aidan’s face so that he cringed.</p>
<p>Was he hallucinating? The nightmares had been vivid and the pain in his chest had felt real. Perhaps he had died and the beast panting heavily over him was a beast of hell.</p>
<p>But despite his nerves, he moved his hand and felt bed sheets beneath him. That was familiar enough. And he felt a cloth covered hip in the bed as well and hoped that was Kelly. But what was this other thing in the bed? It shifted in the bed and to Aidan’s horror, the hot breath was immediately over his face as a hot wet tongue streaked across his mouth, nose, and eye. “Agh! What the devil!” He shouted and threw his arm up to protect his face. The sheets were disrupted as Aidan rolled and fell out of the bed. The breath was knocked out of him and he was reminded of the pain in his ribs upon impact. A deep <em>woof!</em> sounded and the thing moved to peer over the edge of the bed, its dark silhouette showing over his face as its tail thumped hard at Kelly. The panting continued as Aidan reached up to feel the wet tongue licking his fingers. “A… dog?” he said in complete confusion.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>Knowing there was someone who kept watch let Zelena relax. She was more tired and exhausted than she had thought and she didn’t wake up before she heard a scream beside her, moments later followed by a deep <em>woof</em>.<br/>Zelena was wide awake. She thought Gothel was back and attacked Aidan.<br/>It took her a moment to realize what had happened. Bobby’s tail thumped against Zelena’s hip, and her eyes widened when she saw that the dog had managed to find a place in the bed too.<br/>But where was Aidan?<br/>“Aidan?” Zelena searched for the bedside light and switched it on. Bobby occupied most of Aidan’s half of the bed now, looking over the edge while Aidan was nowhere to be seen.<br/>But then Zelena heard his voice, asking about a dog.</p>
<p>“Oh no, Aidan! Are you alright? Bobby, I told you to <em>watch</em> Aidan, not <em>guard</em> him!”<br/>She quickly got out of the bed, and hurried to her boyfriend. He was lying on the floor, and looked puzzled.<br/>“Uhm, Aidan, meet Bobby… maybe you remember I mentioned him during our first date.” Zelena looked at Bobby, and shoved his head back. “Bobby! Down! You were supposed to stay on the floor!”<br/>She turned to Aidan again once Bobby jumped off the bed.<br/>“I’m sorry, I think he really likes you and wanted to say hello. Wait, I’ll help you. Careful, you have a broken rib,” Zelena warned him, and tried to help him up as carefully as possible.<br/>“You need to go to the bathroom, I assume? I’ll get you there, and then I’ll make a tea for you. Are you in a great deal of pain? The doc left some painkillers for you.”</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Aidan pulled his hand back from the eager dog’s muzzle and gingerly touched his side and noticed belatedly that he was only wearing his underwear. The light clicked on and he winced at the sudden light. But now he could see the face of the big, hairy, black dog. “Bobby?” Aidan repeated, knowing the name sounded familiar until Kelly reminded him of their first date. “Ah. Bobby.” He smirked despite his ribs as Kelly gave him a hand up. “You <em>did</em> threaten to sick your friend Bobby on me, I recall…” Not once had she indicated that Bobby had four legs and likely weighed as much as Aidan did.</p>
<p>The dog leapt from the bed and despite having questions about his ribs and most definitely needing the loo, the dog was the most pressing matter. It was in his apartment and staring at him in between where he stood and the door across from the bed. “I… I know we’ve gotten serious, love, but do you think we’re ready for the responsibilities of a dog?” He was grinning at Kelly as he looked at her, his arm looped around her waist. “It’s a big step.” Truly, he was more than glad that Kelly was there. After the hellish night of nightmares and the previous day of being cuffed in a warehouse, seeing her first--well, after the dog--was a relief.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>Zelena had to laugh about Aidan’s comments about Bobby.<br/>“No worries, Bobby is only here for a visit. He’s… guarding us.” Her expression became serious again while she helped Aidan into the bathroom.<br/>“After what happened I didn’t want to stay here without someone else to watch you. Bobby is the best watchdog I ever met, and he just loves me. And you, as it seems.”</p>
<p>Zelena hoped that Aidan would not be mad about having a dog reside in his apartment. But someone broke in, he had been kidnapped, and Gothel had shown up. Too much for Zelena to rely only on the door lock.<br/>“And no worries, love,” Zelena teased back, “I would ask first before having a dog in our life.”</p>
<p>They made it to the bathroom, and Zelena gave him some privacy so he could use the loo.<br/>She boiled up water for him, put a tea bag into the steaming water and filled a glass with cold water.<br/>From the bathroom she could hear that he had turned on the shower.<br/>Zelena put the glass and cup down, and knocked on the door.<br/>“Aidan? You’re not taking a shower in your condition, are you?” She could hear some groaning, and decided to enter.</p>
<p>“Aidan!” Zelena was shocked and angry that he didn’t ask her to help him. In the light and with him standing she could see every bruise and cut on his body, and it looked even worse than before.<br/>“Let me help you, you can barely move your arm.” Zelena didn’t hesitate, but quickly undressed herself, and slid under the shower to join him.<br/>While she began to clean him very carefully with a sponge and some of his shower gel she ranted a bit at him.<br/>“Next time you tell me before taking a shower, look at you! You can barely stand nor lift your arm. How do you intend to clean yourself? You only make it worse! And your cuts in the face are stitched, I don’t even know if you’re allowed to shower at all! And what if you would slip? Bloody hell, Aidan, don’t ever do that again, promise me!”</p>
<p>She was so worried about him that she preferred to rant at him instead of breaking into tears. She didn’t know why, but only imagining him slipping here, and maybe hit his head again was too much. Zelena stopped cleaning his back, and tried to fight back her emotions. The moment when she had found him in that cell came back to her, when she thought he would be dead, his groans of pain, the fear Gothel might have poisoned him, her threats against him and and Robyn, his own fear about Rockford… suddenly it was too much for Zelena.<br/>She was glad that the water hid her tears. She felt embarrassed, but the image of Aidan lying dead in her arms wouldn’t leave her mind.<br/>She simply couldn’t lose him!</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>He’d only barely gotten into the shower when Kelly came in, joined him, and began yelling profusely at him for it all while taking charge of the cleaning aspects of the shower. Aidan tried to conceal the grin that was threatening to erupt into a laugh of pure delight over her concern for him. But he knew better than to laugh. She’d likely yell more and he’d hurt his ribs further by laughing. Dipping his chin so that he could raise his eyes to look into hers, he grabbed her hand to stop her ministrations before she caused him to become too light-headed to remain standing. “Kelly, look at me,” he said carefully. “I’m a survivor.” Those words caused a sense of deja vu, but he dismissed it as the woman before him was far more important than anything else. “I’m standing here because of you. But,” he started and pulled Kelly close so he could embrace her carefully while the steaming water poured down, helping to relax his sore body. “I had to bathe, love. I don’t want to smell as badly as Bobby.” Aidan winked to show he was joking about the dog, and carefully raised his arm to brush his fingers through her hair.</p>
<p>While he was worried about the Rockfords seeking more retribution against him, what he was not concerned about were his own injuries and thought to make light of it all just to help ease Kelly’s concerns. Keeping her safe was most important. And her proximity to him might be endangering her. He had warned her about such possibilities on their first date, but he hadn’t expected the extent his job would put them both in danger.</p>
<p>While he had slept, his dreams had flashed over moments of Halloween and he was certain the both of them had been thrown into the trunk of a car before he had woken in the warehouse. He looked down and turned Kelly’s wrist over, but to his relief saw only blemish-free skin. He’d just imagined it in a dream, then. To cover the concern and relief over what he thought he would find, he placed a kiss to her fingers and met her eyes again. “Are you alright, love? You’ve been through quite an ordeal as well.”</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>He didn’t try to stop her from yelling at him, but waited until she was finished. Zelena was tempted to simply leave the bathroom, and throw herself onto the bed and cry, but he took her hand and told her to look at him.<br/>The water was still washing away her tears, and she lifted her head to do as he asked.<br/>The image of a dead Killian dissolved, and she focused on the man standing right in front of her.<br/>Yes, he was injured, and bruised, and beaten up, but he was alive. And he was right - he was a survivor. Zelena knew even better than he knew.</p>
<p>He pulled her close and when he hugged her Zelena had to force herself not to hug him back immediately. She knew that probably every single touch of her caused him pain, but she did need his hug more than she thought. Very carefully she only placed her hands softly onto his shoulders, and tilted her head so it touched his shoulder. She could feel his fingers brushing through her wet hair, and wondered if it would cause him some extra pain.<br/>“Bobby doesn’t smell,” Zelena replied to his explanation about having to shower, but she felt the tension dissolve as well, and clinged to Aidan. She sighed, and said without yelling this time, “Please tell me next time so I can be there for you. You shouldn’t stand at all, especially not in a slippery shower cabin.”<br/>Although she didn’t want to, she let go of him so she wouldn’t hurt him.</p>
<p>To her surprise Aidan suddenly turned her wrist over and scrutinized it. It was the wrist where the dagger had cut her vein open. Zelena frowned. Did he remember? Although he quickly kissed her fingers Zelena had seen the glint of curiosity in his eyes. Had Gothel’s tea been more than only ‘tea’ after all? But she wouldn’t want him to remember, Zelena was sure about that at least. She felt fear again, the fear of not knowing what this woman had done to him. If she had done something. And she couldn’t even ask.<br/>Aidan’s question almost startled her, and although she liked nothing more than to tell him the truth she just said “Don’t worry about me, you’re the one who’s injured and had been kidnapped. I’m only worried about you. I’m fine. Really, I am.”<br/>Zelena gave him a smile and hoped he would buy it.</p>
<p>She began to clean him again, and decided to find out if he remembered the night at all.<br/>“Aidan, what do you remember of the night? You were surprised about Bobby’s presence, so I assume you didn’t realize that you had some… visitors. Do you?”<br/>Zelena bit her lower lip. Would he remember ‘Eloise Gardener’?</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Aidan smirked, still attempting to suppress a laugh when Kelly’s first response was to inform him that Bobby doesn’t smell.</p>
<p>He wasn’t certain he could agree with her, however, when she said she was fine. By the tears he saw streaming down her face, despite the shower water, he could see that she was not fine.</p>
<p>When she asked him if he recalled visitors, Aidan shook his head. “Visitors, plural? No. Although I should have assumed so since I’ve been stitched up.” He gestured at his face which he was managing to keep out of the water thus far. Her concern was somewhat alarming. This was no time for showering. Letting go of his hold on Kelly, he reached back to shut off the water and grabbed for their towels, first settling hers over her shoulders before reaching for his own to wrap around his waist. The movement was slow enough that he could focus on keeping his balance.</p>
<p>“Tell me what’s bothering you, love. I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>He shut off the water and placed a towel over her shoulders.<br/>“You shouldn’t move that much,” she said, and although he moved slowly she was worried his broken rib might cause another injury if he moved too much.<br/>“Let me do this.” She took her own towel and dried him up as best as possible without putting too much pressure on him and said, “I’ll tell you what happened once you’re back in bed.”<br/>When she was finished she wrapped the towel around her body and helped him back into the bed.</p>
<p>“Here, you should take a painkiller. It helps you breathe more easily.”<br/>She handed him the water and while he was drinking she quickly dried her hair and herself, and grabbed one of his shirts as she didn’t have and nighty here. Yet.<br/>She told Bobby to lay down in front of the bed again, and sat down on Aidan’s bedside.<br/>“I told you I would call some people I know. So, for once Mark was here, he’s Bobby’s master, and Dr. Mayfield. He’s a doc who treats patients without asking too many questions. He stitched you up. Mark left Bobby here as our personal guard.”<br/>Zelena bit her lip, but she didn’t want to lie to Aidan. At least not regarding his cursed-life.</p>
<p>“There… was also a woman here. She suddenly showed up and offered to help you. Eloise Gardener? I woke you for a moment, and although you were… quite dizzy you did seem to know her.”<br/>Zelena felt uncomfortable to even speak about her. She knew that Gothel was the mother of Alice and had provoked her, so she didn’t believe Aidan had something with her, but she wanted to know what he believed this fake person Eloise was to him.<br/>“You never mentioned her.” Zelena added, and entwined her fingers as this topic was nagging at her.<br/>“She might be the reason I’m… worried.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Once Aidan was back into the bedroom, he grabbed some shorts to put on before getting back into bed, groaning in pleasure at the feeling of sitting again. He waved off Kelly’s worries but took the pain medicine and water.</p>
<p>Nodding at Kelly’s explanations over how his injuries had been stitched up, he settled into the bed again and set his hand on Kelly’s thigh as she spoke. But then he noticed her tension as she mentioned Eloise Gardner’s visit and Aidan frowned. “Aye, I know of her,” he said carefully because he suspected he heard some jealousy in her tone. “Why would I mention her? I met her…” He had to think of when exactly he’d found her in the warehouse. “I believe it was after Weaver and I arrested you. She brought me cake at the station once and,” he chuckled at the memory, “your sister dumped the cake in the trash before I had a chance to have any. Said I’d thank her later.” He squeezed her thigh. “Why should you be worried, love? I hadn’t seen the woman since she delivered the cake and then she showed up here last night. It is rather odd, however...”</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>So Gothel had only referred to the past. Thank god. It just seemed Aidan deserved an explanation as he seemed to be confused because Zelena was bothered by Gothel. Eloise.<br/>She placed her hand over his on her thigh and squeezed it.<br/>“She… seemed to know you very well, Aidan. Probably more than she should unless… well… she-she hinted that she’s very well acquainted with you so… maybe I thought…”</p>
<p>Zelena shrugged her shoulders, and tried to smile. “I think now she tried to provoke me. I just don’t know why. Forget it. And my sister was right about that cake - you should thank her for that. I don’t think she will come back.”<br/>Zelena carefully crawled over his legs to lie down beside him again.<br/>“You should try and sleep again. You need to rest. It’s still a few hours until sunrise, and our other visitors will be back early to check on you.”</p>
<p>She placed a kiss on his hair and covered him with the blanket.<br/>“The next time you intend to shower I want you to tell me, okay? And if you need anything I await you wake me if necessary. I don’t want to see you out of bed except you have a necessity.”<br/>She gave him a smile.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>“‘Very well acquainted?’” Aidan repeated with a confused eyebrow twitch. Aside from the woman’s name and the fact that he’d been searching for this missing person for some time, he barely knew a thing otherwise of her. “I don’t know why she’d bother to provoke you, darling.”</p>
<p>His hand sought out Kelly’s under the blanket as she went on about how incapable he was. “As you wish,” he sighed as he kept his head turned in her direction, hoping to catch sight of her falling asleep in the darkened bedroom. There would be no further sleep for the detective, however. He’d gotten more than a full night’s worth of sleep thus far and his brain was too focused on work now to rest. He would remain still, however, to put Kelly at ease.</p>
<p>After a short time, he felt a movement on the bed near his feet and grinned seeing the massive dog jumping up to make himself comfortable as well.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>His presence gave her comfort and peace, and even Gothel didn’t bother her so much anymore. Aidan didn’t show any signs of poison yet, and Zelena knew that if Gothel had given him something poisonous it would have had an effect in the meantime. So she felt relieved, and when Aidan’s hand found hers under the blanket she could relax a bit.<br/>She turned onto her side, placed her other hand as well onto Aidan’s, and closed her eyes.<br/>With Aidan holding her hand she fell asleep quickly.</p>
<p>Bobby changed his position in the meantime and eyes the humans before he laid down again, his nose and eyes directed to the door.<br/>He didn’t sleep, but dozed, and when he smelled his master a few hours later, he got up and trotted to the door.<br/>A moment later someone knocked, and Bobby barked with his deep dog-voice.</p>
<p>Zelena woke up with a start, and once she realized that she had fallen asleep for the rest of the night she felt embarrassed, and searched for Aidan at once before she even thought of getting the door.<br/>He was awake and looking at her, and Zelena smiled.<br/>“I’ll get the door,” she quickly said, and placed a kiss onto the tip of his nose before getting out of bed.<br/>“Must be Mark and the doctor,” she informed Aidan.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>The dull ache beyond his temples continued as he laid there unable to sleep. It would likely stick around for weeks with a concussion, but Aidan knew he was on the mend with Kelly’s help. He was certain he’d broken his ribs many times before, but could not pinpoint exactly when that had been. Thinking too hard over it caused the ache in his head to worsen, so he attempted to direct his thoughts elsewhere.</p>
<p>The dreams he’d had while sleeping had been disturbing and confusing. Vicious beasts attacking, gnashing teeth, fireballs, melting bodies with stinking hair as the only remnants… And then there was the time he had been handcuffed in that warehouse. That had been real but the hallucination of having a left hand again had also felt real. But it couldn’t have been. He knew it had been a product of the concussion and delirium. He’d thought he had cut Kelly’s wrist, but he hadn’t. Where had this horror come from?</p>
<p>The dog bounded off the bed and woofed, a welcome distraction from the troubling thoughts. Kelly woke and kissed Aidan saying she would get the door. Once she was out of the bedroom, he got up as well. Being clad only in his underwear was less dignifying than he was willing to be seen at the moment. The prior day had been bad enough. So, he moved to the closet and threw on a button up shirt but didn’t bother with the buttons yet, the movement of putting his arms through the sleeves aching but in a satisfying way. He could do something at least on his own. After he grabbed a pair of trousers, he went back to the bed to sit on the edge to pull them on, all the while listening to Kelly and her doctor friend conversing. After that was finished, he had to have his prosthetic hand back. The drawer where the hand was placed on Halloween had been ransacked, but he found the hand on the floor underneath. “Bloody bastards,” he muttered as he bent to pick it up as carefully as he could. Everything hurt, but he knew this was part of the road to recovery.</p>
<p>The brace for the hand was easily affixed to his arm--he’d done it thousands of times before--and stood from the bed as he walked barefooted to the doorway to the remainder of the apartment.</p>
<p>Leaning against the doorframe, Aidan eyed this Mark friend of Kelly’s and the doctor. No, he didn’t remember either man in his apartment before when his head had evidently stitched his head up. While he could be grateful for the help, he wondered why these men were so willing to come and even lend a dog for protection. He decided it was time to speak up. This was his apartment after all and felt the need to host somewhat. “Thank you for coming yesterday.” Gesturing to the stitches in his forehead, he added as he walked into the living room, “And for this. Will you have some breakfast before the examination? I’m famished myself.” Kelly had brewed tea hours ago and he spied that immediately as he headed for it. Cold or not, he needed something on his stomach.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>Bobby welcomed his master by placing his fore-paws against his chest, and waited for some TLC’s.<br/>“Bobby is amazing, thank you again Mark. I think he likes Aidan very much, although my precious detective was a bit surprised when Bobby gave him a wet kiss.”<br/>Zelena giggled when she thought of his surprised face. Mark smiled, and Bobby got down. He walked to the door and was eager to go for a walk.</p>
<p>Dr. Mayfield was more interested in his patient, and Zelena told him that she had found Aidan showering, but everything went well.<br/>The doctor nodded and then the injured detective stepped out of the bedroom and greeted them.<br/>Zelena frowned and sighed before saying, “See what I mean? He just won’t listen to me. Stubborn like the pirate he portrayed on Halloween.”<br/>The doctor smiled. “You should give him some more space, Miss Greene. Obviously he is tough and seems to know where his limits are, am I right, Detective? And thank you for the invitation, but I have had breakfast already, and I’d like to examine you first as I have some more patients on my list today.”</p>
<p>Mark laughed when he saw Zelena’s face, and said to Aidan, “I don’t need any breakfast either, but I’ll go for a walk with my dog now. Kelly, Bobby will be back in the evening, I have something coming up and need him today.”<br/>Zelena nodded. “Sure thing, I think I can handle everything. Thank you, Mark.”<br/>Mark nodded and he left with Bobby while the doctor was busy examining Aidan.<br/>Zelena closed the door behind them, and turned to the other men.<br/>“So? How is he?” She suddenly remembered that Aidan said something about being famished.<br/>So she went to the kitchen and prepared breakfast for him.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>When the doctor appealed to Aidan’s need for providing for himself, Aidan shot a cautious look toward Kelly. He certainly didn’t want her to think she wasn’t needed. And he didn’t want her leaving his presence as he felt he couldn’t keep her safe if he didn’t know where she was. He could barely keep her safe as it was now, but with her staying in the apartment, he at least had the peace of mind to be able to relax.</p>
<p>So, breakfast would have to wait. The doctor was doing him a favor in being present, so Aidan nodded and returned to the stuffy bedroom. He sat on the edge of the bed and peeled back his shirt so his ribs could be viewed.</p>
<p>Aidan recalled that when Eloise Gardener had been present, she had pressed hard at his ribs and he had almost fainted from the pain. This doctor didn’t do anything of the sort. Instead, he offered to bind Aidan’s ribs to help with the healing. He told Kelly and Aidan that he would be fine with plenty of rest.</p>
<p>Once Kelly had left the bedroom, the doctor inquired over any other issues and Aidan hesitated. He wasn’t one to trust doctors that he didn’t know, but Kelly did trust this man. Hesitantly, he said, “I’ve had hallucinations of things that didn’t happen. I think I was drugged.” He rubbed his fingers into his eyes as he sighed before looking back to the doctor with weariness over his drooped shoulders. “Or is that simply a side effect of a concussion?”</p>
<p>The doctor shook his head. “No, not from a concussion.”</p>
<p>Aidan reached for the bedside table for the mug of tea that had been sitting there all night. “This is what I drank. I don’t recall your visit from yesterday so it knocked me out in the very least.”</p>
<p>The doctor took the mug and sniffed it before suggesting that he take it with him to have it tested. “In the meantime, take it easy if you can and food will help wash anything out of your system. If you want a prescription for a sleep aid…”</p>
<p>“No,” Aidan said quickly. “I don’t want to sleep.” The nightmares of the hallucinations would be back, he was sure.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>When the doctor appeared from the bedroom again he told her that Aidan would be fine with some rest and good care, but he also mentioned the hallucinations.<br/>“He told me he drank something, but I didn’t give him anything. I assume you might know what he drank?” The doctor gave her a frowning look.<br/>Zelena took the cup he had brought along, and shook her head. “I don’t know exactly what it was in this tea, and unfortunately I might never find out. The woman who mixed that claimed to be a healer, but… well…”</p>
<p>Zelena was worried about Aidan’s hallucinations as she knew they might be real memories. He had already examined her wrist where he had cut her, so maybe Gothel’s presence here was something she could use.<br/>“I’ll take care of this, doctor. Thank you very much.”<br/>Dr. Mayfield nodded and gave Zelena some other tablet. “He said he doesn’t want to sleep but… well, just in case. He also gave her a prescription in case one tablet wasn’t enough.<br/>“Thanks again, doctor,” Zelena kept the cup and said, “I have someone who can test this. You don’t need to bother about that too.”<br/>The doctor nodded, and headed to the door.<br/>“I think he’ll recover soon if he takes it easy. If you need me again, just call.”<br/>Then he left.</p>
<p>Zelena took a deep breath, and looked at the cup first, then to the bedroom door.<br/>She had to convince him that the tea had been a drug and he was imagining things because of Gothel.<br/>She didn’t like it, but it was necessary.</p>
<p>“Aidan? Love, breakfast is ready, would you like to stay in bed or come to the living room since you’re obviously allowed to stand up?”</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Aidan was buttoning up his shirt to cover the bandage that wrapped around his middle when Kelly called for him to have breakfast. “No,” he called with enthusiasm and stood from the bed. “I don’t think I want to sleep for days now.” He smiled as he approached Kelly and looped a hand around her waist to give her a kiss. “Despite what the doctor said, I’m glad you’re here, darling. I’m certain you’ve saved my life.”</p>
<p>Did she know how important she was to him? Aidan cupped her face and simply let the emotion he was feeling show in his eyes. The smell of food cooking made his stomach rumble loudly in protestation of the delay, but he only smiled and leaned in to kiss her again.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>She smiled when she heard him. He did not sound tired or weak but filled with energy. And he obviously was. Zelena giggled when he announced that he wouldn't sleep for days now, and said, "Well, I think you will realize that you need more rest than you might think."<br/>He looped a hand around her waist and kissed her. Zelena kissed him back and very gently and carefully put her arms onto his shoulders.<br/>She blushed when he suggested she had saved his life, and only said, “I did not, I just wanted to have you back safe and sound. I can’t lose you, Aidan.”</p>
<p>He cupped her face and Zelena could see the emotions in his eyes. So much warmth and care was in them, and Zelena stroked over his cheek.<br/>“I will always come for you.”<br/>Then she heard his stomach rumble, and had to laugh.<br/>“Have a seat, I’ll get you your breakfast.”<br/>She served him eggs on toast, porridge, even Pancakes and some tea.</p>
<p>For herself she had made a coffee, and joined Aidan now. Maybe this was a good time to talk about his ‘hallucinations’ that were actually real memories.<br/>“Aidan, the doctor told me that you… have hallucinations. I… think I can explain what happened to you.” Zelena bit her lower lip, and grabbed the cup Gothel had used, and showed it to him.<br/>“I think your… acquaintance, Eloise Gardener, used some psychotropic substances or better, herbs to knock you out. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, I didn’t know this would cause you hallucinations, but she said she would use only some harmless herbs. I don’t think they were that harmless. I’m so sorry, Aidan.”<br/>Zelena was indeed really sorry, but more about lying to him.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Aidan frowned at the mug in Kelly’s hand. He thought it would be sent off for drug testing, but evidently the doctor, and Kelly, knew what it was that had affected him. The hallucinations had seemed quite vivid in memory despite the fact that they were beginning to fade just as dreams do once one has awoken and reality becomes much more pressing.</p>
<p>“What goal would she have in knocking me out? Why would she do that?” He scratched at his eyebrow as he stared at the mug, but thought of the woman he had saved from being kidnapped. It made no sense. Evidently Roni had thought poorly of Eloise Gardener as well.</p>
<p>When he looked back up at Kelly, he recalled how Branson had kidnapped her and that now Branson was dead with no explanation beyond a piece of straw sticking out of his chest. Two kidnap victims, both women had survived it. “I wonder if Eloise was connected with Branson. Perhaps he kidnapped her as well. I need to get back to work,” he said. “I’ve been out of the office for days now.” So much work would be piling up, it would take at least a week to recover from this accidental absence.</p>
<p>But the dull ache in Aidan’s head from the concussion would slow him down. He knew he should be resting, but he’d be paying the price for it later. “Just a few hours of work and I’ll come back before the doctor returns,” he told Kelly because he knew she would protest. He began eating the breakfast Kelly prepared rather quickly. It had been over a day since he’d eaten and the taste of the food caused his tastebuds to soar into satisfaction. “Thank you for the breakfast, love. It’s wonderful.”</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>“We will probably never know,” Zelena answered at Aidan’s thoughts about Eloise’s intentions. “And I don’t know her at all.” Not really a lie, as Zelena actually didn’t know Eloise. “So I’m afraid I won’t be of any help for you about a possible connection between Branson and her.”<br/>She was ready to drop this issue, but she was not ready to let him go back to work yet. But he was stubborn as hell, either as detective and pirate, so Zelena knew he would insist.<br/>Her first impulse was to threaten him to handcuff him to his bed until he was better, but he wouldn’t like that very much.</p>
<p>“Aidan, I get you want to go and talk to your partner about what happened, but… look at you! You’re still in pain and you only make it worse.”<br/>She gave him a pleading look but knew it wasn’t going to work. Zelena sighed and snorted angrily.<br/>“What is it with you detectives that you have to be so stubborn all the time? Only happy when you’re dead, are you?”<br/>She immediately regretted her outburst, but she knew he was far away from being fit for work again.<br/>“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. But you almost died! I actually thought you were dead.”<br/>She massaged her forehead and thought about it before saying “I’ll let you go under one condition - I’m coming with you and keep an eye on you, understood? And only for a few hours. When I see you’re feeling worse we go home.”<br/>Her eyes were sparkling and she crossed her arms to show him that things would go her way or he would stay here.</p>
<p><span class="u">Killian</span><br/>Aidan raised his eyebrow at Kelly as she called him stubborn and suicidal. “I’m happy with you, love.” He knew he was stubborn but it kept him going. He reached across the table for her hand despite the fact that she had stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest. He wouldn’t point out that they were very much alike, but he tried to conceal the grin that thought provoked. “I wish I could recall what happened, but I don’t and I am sorry that I’ve put you through that dread.”</p>
<p>Aidan stood from the chair and held back the groan that would have come from the movement of his ribs, but leaned over to kiss Kelly and cupped her cheek in adoration. “I’d love to have you come with me today.” He stood and grinned now. “But you might become bored around all the sergeants.”</p>
<p>Aidan finished dressing afterwards and with Kelly, they would head across the street to the precinct.</p>
<p><span class="u">Zelena</span><br/>Although Zelena tried to look at him grimly her lips twitched and flashed a smile when he said he’d be happy with her and reached out for her.<br/>With a sigh, she relaxed her arms, took his hand and squeezed it tightly.<br/>“It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault,” she assured him, and her eyes followed him when he stood up and leaned over to kiss her.<br/>She returned it with all her heart and placed a hand over his.<br/>“I’ll never be bored when I can see you, Aidan,” she said, smirking and joked “maybe I will tease the grey old detective a bit.”</p>
<p>She stood up, helped Aidan getting into his jacket, and together they headed down the street to the police station.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sadly - this is very likely the end of "The Pirate and His Witch".</p></blockquote></div></div>
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